Central America
Nicaragua opposition leader Chamorro sentenced to 8 years in prison: NGO
AFP
Nicaragua’s main opposition figure and would-be presidential challenger to Daniel Ortega was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison after being found guilty of financial crimes, a human rights group said.
Cristiana Chamorro, 68, will remain under house arrest, as she has been since she was detained in June, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH).
The charges brought by President Ortega’s government had prevented her from running in the November presidential election in which she was regarded as the favorite.
Chamorro was accused by the state of laundering money, property and assets through her media foundation as well as promoting “ideological falsehood” and destabilizing the government.
Chamorro’s brother Pedro Joaquin Chamorro and two former employees of her free speech foundation, as well as her driver, were also convicted by a court last week.
Pedro Joaquin Chamorro was sentenced to nine years in prison and is being held at the Judicial Assistance Directorate (DAJ) of the police.
The three others also received sentences of up to 13 years.
CENIDH said Cristiana Chamorro and the others were also slapped with “million-dollar fines” that are “impossible to pay, and if they are commuted, it would be the equivalent to life imprisonment.”
Chamorro has denied the charges against her and said they were only brought to block her from running against Ortega, the 76-year-old former guerrilla who has governed since 2007 and who won a fourth consecutive term in November.
“They want to stain my name, but they will not succeed,” she told the court at the end of the trial, according to 100% News, an online media outlet critical of the government. “They will never succeed in staining the name of my father or my mother, because I am innocent.”
A journalist not aligned with any political party, Chamorro is one of seven former presidential candidates and nearly 40 opposition figures arrested last year in the run-up to the November 7 election.
She is the daughter of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who defeated Ortega at the polls in 1990, and of journalist Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, was shot dead in Managua in 1978 for opposing the Somoza dictatorship, which ruled Nicaragua for nearly half a century until the victory of Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in 1979.
During Chamorro’s seven-day, closed-door trial, the government alleged financial crimes were committed through the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, a press freedom training and defense center that Chamorro directed for 20 years and which has since been shuttered.
The state said the foundation was used to receive money from abroad to go towards destabilizing the government of Ortega and his vice-president and wife Rosario Murillo.
Central America
Nicaragua’s Alliances With U.S. Rivals Could Trigger More Sanctions, Analysis Says
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to maintain political and economic pressure on the government of Nicaragua, led by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, due to its growing alliances with Russia, China and Iran, according to an analysis released Monday by the Centro de Estudios Transdisciplinarios de Centroamérica (Cetcam).
The report states that tensions between Washington and Managua have increased since the beginning of Trump’s second term and could worsen amid the regional political climate, particularly because of developments in Venezuela and Cuba.
Cetcam researchers noted that since the second half of 2025, the U.S. government has intensified criticism of the Sandinista administration, mainly regarding political prisoners, human rights, religious freedom and what it describes as the authoritarian model established by Ortega and Murillo.
“With this background, it is possible to foresee that Washington will maintain pressure, including sanctions, against the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship,” the think tank stated in its report.
The study also warns that one of Washington’s main concerns is the strengthening relationship between Managua and countries considered strategic rivals of the United States, particularly Russia, China and Iran.
Among the developments highlighted is the recent ratification by the Russian Senate of a military cooperation agreement signed with Nicaragua in 2025. The deal is expected to strengthen strategic coordination and Russia’s presence in Central America for an initial five-year period.
According to Cetcam, the move will “hardly go unnoticed” by the United States.
Central America
Guatemala swears in new attorney general after controversial exit of Consuelo Porras
The new Attorney General of Guatemala, Gabriel García Luna, officially took office on Sunday and pledged to restore public confidence in the institution while strengthening efforts against corruption and organized crime.
“Today does not mark the beginning of just another administration. Today marks an opportunity to restore dignity to Guatemala’s criminal justice system,” said García Luna, who was appointed by President Bernardo Arévalo.
García Luna succeeds Consuelo Porras, whose tenure began in 2018 and became highly controversial due to accusations of undermining democratic institutions and obstructing anti-corruption investigations.
Porras was sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom, among others, over allegations related to corruption and interference in judicial processes.
Her administration was also criticized for allegedly attempting to block President Arévalo’s inauguration in 2024 and for pursuing legal actions against former anti-mafia prosecutors, judges, journalists, and Indigenous leaders, many of whom later went into exile.
During his inauguration speech, García Luna acknowledged that many Guatemalans had lost trust in the Attorney General’s Office.
“For years, many Guatemalans lost confidence in the institution, not because they stopped believing in justice, but because justice stopped believing in them. Today begins the duty to restore that trust,” he stated.
The new attorney general also admitted he inherited an institution “with deep wounds.”
The United States has accused Porras of obstructing anti-corruption investigations to protect political allies and secure political favors.
Critics argue that such actions benefited the so-called “pact of the corrupt,” an alleged network of political, economic, and criminal interests believed to exert influence over Guatemala’s justice system.
Central America
Mulino Vows Tougher Crackdown as Homicides Increase in Panama
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said Thursday that his administration will not negotiate with gangs in an attempt to curb the wave of violence that has recently shaken the country and fueled growing public concern over insecurity.
“I am not going to sit down, nor is the security minister going to sit down with the leader of any gang to negotiate,” Mulino stated while rejecting any possibility of dialogue with criminal organizations.
According to statistics from the Public Ministry of Panama, the country recorded 62 homicides in April, nearly double the 34 reported during the same month last year. In March, authorities registered 53 killings, representing a 20% increase compared to the same period in 2025.
Panamanian authorities say the country’s two main gangs, among more than 180 criminal organizations identified nationwide, are behind the recent escalation in violence.
The National Police of Panama stated that disputes over territorial control, recruitment of new members, and drug theft between rival gangs are driving the increase in murders and armed attacks.
Mulino also expressed concern about innocent civilians becoming victims of the violence.
“They are in restaurants, they are in schools, and they become victims of these shootings,” the president said.
The Panamanian leader further called for tougher judicial measures against gang leaders and drug trafficking operators, criticizing court decisions that grant house arrest to suspects linked to contract killings and organized crime.
“We are going to act as we must to defend the overwhelming majority of Panamanian citizens, who are not criminals and are not drug traffickers,” Mulino stated.
Authorities believe that rising cocaine production in South America and Panama’s role as a transit route for drugs destined for the United States and Europe continue to strengthen gangs involved in narcotics trafficking.
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