Central America
Bukele and Argentine Minister Bullrich exchange their experiences on security
President Nayib Bukele received the Minister of Security of Argentina, Patricia Bullrich, in San Salvador, on Tuesday in a private meeting in which they exchanged their experiences on security and the fight against drug trafficking.
The Presidential House of El Salvador reported in an X message about the meeting that is part of a tour of the Central American country of the Argentine minister to “know the security methods” implemented by the Government of Bukele.
He added, without providing details, that “cooperation on security issues is getting closer and closer and we are sure that it will contribute to the well-being of both nations.”
For its part, the Ministry of Security of Argentina also indicated in X that Bullrich shared with the Salvadoran president about “the management that is being carried out in the fight against mafias and drug trafficking.”
In addition, he pointed out that the minister learned more about “the successful Salvadoran model” in reference to an emergency regime implemented to fight gangs.
He added that Bullrich also met with the vice president of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa, and thanked him for his collaboration in the visit made by the South American entourage.
In two days of visit to El Salvador, Bullrich visited the megaprison of the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot), met with the heads of the Police and the Attorney General’s Office.
Bullrich, the former electoral rival of the Argentine president, Javier Milei, congratulated Bukele on Tuesday through a video for “resturing peace and tranquility” to his country.
The administration of Milei and Bukele are close after the Argentine president assumed his position as president.
Milei was in El Salvador on June 1 in the context of Bukele’s inauguration for a second consecutive term despite being prohibited in the Constitution.
The security policy of the Bukele Government, which has broad popular support, has focused since 2022 on the suspension of constitutional guarantees and mass arrests of alleged gang members through an emergency regime.
This measure was approved by the Legislative Assembly at the request of the Executive in March 2022 after an escalation of murders that claimed the lives of more than 80 people in three days attributed to the gangs, but that journalistic investigations of the media El Faro indicate that it took place after the rupture of a pact between these gangs and the Government.
In fact, the United States Government has sanctioned officials of the Bukele Executive on accusations of coordinating meetings with gang members.
The aforementioned regime has left more than 80,000 arrests and more than 6,000 allegations of human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and torture.
Humanitarian organizations have also reported more than 300 deaths of detainees, most of them with signs of violence.
Central America
Costa Rica faces historic vote on lifting presidential immunity for Rodrigo Chaves
Costa Rica, a country internationally recognized for its democratic and political stability, is heading toward an unprecedented decision: whether to lift President Rodrigo Chaves’s immunity so he can face a criminal trial over alleged irregular management of funds from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).
On Wednesday, the Legislative Assembly formed a commission of three lawmakers to analyze the accusation against the president, which was forwarded earlier this month by the Supreme Court of Justice. The commission has 20 days, extendable for another 20, to issue a report so that the full Assembly can vote on whether to lift the president’s immunity.
Lifting the immunity would require 38 votes — two-thirds of the legislature — which is largely composed of opposition parties.
If immunity is removed, prosecutors would be able to continue their investigation and potentially question the president. If the motion fails, the case would return to the judiciary and remain pending until Chaves’s term ends in May 2026.
Since the country’s last civil war in 1948 and the abolition of the army later that year, Costa Rica has held uninterrupted elections, every president has completed their term without major issues, and none has ever had their immunity lifted — although several have faced judicial proceedings.
Central America
Honduras sees ongoing killings of land defenders and attacks on press, warns NGO
The Association for Participatory Citizenship (ACI PARTICIPA) denounced on Thursday that killings of land defenders and attacks aimed at silencing the press continue in Honduras.
“We continue to see murders of defenders of land and territory, as well as aggressions to silence the press. In 2024, there were 490 attacks and aggressions that constitute human rights violations,” said ACI PARTICIPA’s executive director, Hedme Castro, during the presentation of the 2024 Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Honduras.
Castro noted that the aggressions range “from attempts on lives, threats, harassment, intimidation, and smear campaigns, which have become very frequent, to obstruction of work, surveillance, and criminalization.”
She highlighted that, although only seven defenders were killed in 2024 compared to 24 in 2023, “last year we saw a significantly high number of women murdered, and cases of missing children.”
Moreover, Castro criticized the authorities for failing to address the violence. “There is no response from the authorities to reduce the violence in the country; in fact, I believe that the ‘fathers of the nation’ (members of Parliament) are not setting the right example, and the situation in the Legislative branch is actually fueling violence,” she added, referring to frequent violent incidents in Congress.
The ACI PARTICIPA report also notes that the government led by President Xiomara Castro has made “an important effort over the past two years to improve citizens’ access to basic rights, helping to cushion the effects of economic deterioration, although a decent standard of living has yet to be achieved for the majority of Hondurans.”
Central America
Daniel Ortega’s last historic sandinista ally detained in Managua
Former Sandinista revolutionary commander and presidential economic adviser Bayardo Arce Castaño was arrested on Thursday in Managua for alleged irregular transactions involving state-owned assets, according to local media reports.
The arrest was carried out by agents from the Special Operations Directorate of the Police, who raided his residence in the southern part of the Nicaraguan capital. The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) is investigating Arce for “transactions and/or negotiations” that, according to authorities, do not comply with current legal standards.
Arce, 76, was one of the nine historic commanders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) who led the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. Since 2007, he had served as the economic adviser to dictator Daniel Ortega, and was the last of the historic commanders still aligned with the regime.
The Attorney General’s Office accused Arce of contempt after he refused to appear for questioning about properties registered in his name. Authorities allege that Ricardo Bonilla, Arce’s assistant, was also involved in questionable financial dealings and was jailed after failing to comply with a summons.
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