Central America
Panama deports 29 colombian criminals under new U.S. migration agreement
Panama deported 29 Colombians with criminal backgrounds on Tuesday who had entered the country through the remote Darién jungle, marking the first implementation of a migration agreement signed with the United States in July.
“We have the first flight of the agreement funded by the United States,” said Panama’s Deputy Minister of Security, Luis Felipe Icaza, to the press. He was accompanied by U.S. officials as the charter flight took off at dawn from Albrook Airport in Panama City, carrying the 29 deportees to Bogotá.
Before boarding the Fokker 50 aircraft, the group was assembled at the side of the runway and each individual was checked with metal detectors. The deportees, who were not carrying any luggage, were handcuffed and shackled, making their way slowly up the stairs to the plane.
Icaza mentioned that “the next flight could depart on Friday or Saturday” under the memorandum Panama signed with the United States on July 1, the same day José Raúl Mulino took office as the new President of Panama.
Under this agreement, Washington pledged to fund the deportation of migrants crossing the Darién, the inhospitable jungle on the Colombia-Panama border, with six million dollars.
“The memorandum applies to anyone, not just criminals,” said Marlene Piñeiro, the U.S. Interior Security Attaché in Central America, who observed the deportation process along with other U.S. and Panamanian officials.
“In addition to charter flights, we are also supporting commercial flights” for the return of migrants to their home countries, she added.
Central America
Catholic church in Nicaragua faces unprecedented persecution under Ortega
The Catholic Church in Nicaragua is enduring the worst repression in its history under the Sandinista government led by President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President, Rosario Murillo, according to a report released Thursday by the humanitarian NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más.
“There is no comparable precedent in Nicaragua to the levels of repression against the Catholic Church, as well as evangelical and other religious expressions,” the NGO stated in its report titled “Six Years of Repression of Religious Freedom in Nicaragua: A Chronology of Abuses and Human Rights Violations Against Church Members (2018-2024).”
The organization added that this represents “a state policy and practice of unprecedented repression in Nicaragua’s history,” exceeding even times of war, “with the added grievance that, in the alleged peace of tyranny, those who refuse to bless its criminal acts are treated as the worst enemies.”
“Never before has the country seen so many priests imprisoned, or nuns and clergy persecuted and expelled. Not even in times of war was there an atmosphere of terror like the one currently endured by the Nicaraguan people, especially the Catholic Church, which is persecuted even for ringing its bells,” the Collective, comprised of exiled Nicaraguan activists based in Costa Rica, emphasized.
Central America
Record exodus: over 800,000 nicaraguans forced to leave due to political crisis
At least 800,000 Nicaraguans, representing 11.8% of the country’s estimated population of 6.8 million, have been forced to leave Nicaragua since April 2018, when a social and political crisis erupted in the Central American nation. This exodus is the “largest in history,” according to the humanitarian NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más, which reported on Thursday.
“To date, around 800,000 Nicaraguans have been forcibly displaced to other countries due to political crisis and state violence,” reported the Collective in its statement. The organization, which is made up of Nicaraguan exiled activists based in Costa Rica, further noted, “This is the largest human displacement in Nicaragua’s history. In Costa Rica alone, over 250,000 Nicaraguans are currently applying for refugee status.”
The NGO stated that, “as a result of relentless repression” under Daniel Ortega’s government, “the country is facing the largest exodus in its history, mainly to the United States, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Spain.”
The organization also expressed concern over “the conditions in host countries,” saying that, “in most cases, [migrants] are unable to access health care, education, dignified housing, social security, job opportunities with adequate pay, or food security.”
In a prior report on the ‘Situation of Forced Displacement of Nicaraguans’ published in June 2023, the organization indicated that around 605,043 Nicaraguans had fled the country due to state repression against opposition members, religious figures, and critics of the Sandinista government.
This means that nearly 200,000 Nicaraguans left their homes and fled their country in the past 16 months alone.
According to recent data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), cited in February by the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, a total of 440,280 Nicaraguans, or 6.5% of the population, sought asylum or refuge in third countries, mainly in the United States and Costa Rica, between 2018 and June 2023.
As of June 2023, UNHCR data also showed that 18,545 Nicaraguans had been formally recognized as refugees.
Central America
Honduras extradites suspected fentanyl trafficker to the U.S. after treaty cancellation
Honduras delivered a suspected fentanyl trafficker to the United States on Wednesday, nearly two months after canceling the extradition treaty between the two countries, according to police reports.
“The plane from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has already left,” stated police spokesperson Edgardo Barahona, confirming that the aircraft took off from Palmerola Airport, about 50 km north of Tegucigalpa.
Javier Marín Gonzales, 25, was captured on September 7, and Honduran authorities approved his extradition on October 7, following a request from federal authorities in California, United States.
According to investigations, he was “one of the leaders” responsible for “directing, managing, and distributing fentanyl in the San Francisco Bay Area,” as stated by the Judicial Branch in a press release.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid legally produced by laboratories and used in medicine as a pain reliever, but it is also misused as a recreational drug.
-
International5 days ago
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump rush the last few hours courting the decisive Latin vote of Pennsylvania
-
International5 days ago
Kamala Harris, the woman who could make history
-
International5 days ago
Donald Trump, the master of provocation who never admits defeat
-
International4 days ago
Donald Trump echoes an alleged massive fraud in Philadelphia that the Police denies
-
International21 hours ago
Justice gives a pause to the trial of Trump for the assault on the Capitol
-
International4 days ago
American astronauts vote from the International Space Station (ISS)
-
International21 hours ago
NATO accuses Russia and North Korea of “dangerously expanding” the war in Ukraine
-
International5 days ago
Harris’ campaign augurs “adjusted” elections and calls for calm in the face of vote counting
-
International21 hours ago
Legislators related to Evo Morales prevent the Arce report in Parliament, which qualifies it as an “act of vandalism”
-
International4 days ago
MAGA Movement accompanies Donald Trump to vote in Palm Beach
-
International4 days ago
Polling stations close in half of the US states, including Pennsylvania
-
International5 days ago
Blinken regrets in a call with Egypt that Hamas did not release the hostages to achieve a truce
-
International2 days ago
Trump begins to design his first decrees and his possible team in the White House
-
International5 days ago
The “trainer Walz”, a candidate for vice president who was untunged
-
International21 hours ago
The United States accuses a man linked to the Iranian government of plotting a plan to kill Trump
-
International13 hours ago
Machado urges international justice to “act” against the Maduro Government
-
International13 hours ago
Who rings for Trump’s cabinet 2.0?
-
International13 hours ago
Trump tells the Palestinian president that he will “work to stop the war” in Gaza
-
International21 hours ago
Another journalist dies in an Israeli bombing in northern Gaza and the total rises to 184
-
International3 days ago
Trump leads in all key states and Harris’ options fade
-
International3 days ago
Italy again sends a ship with 8 migrants to Albanian detention centers
-
International21 hours ago
Every four minutes a boy or girl dies in the world from an act of violence, says Unicef
-
International4 days ago
US elects president: election day postcards
-
International4 days ago
Puerto Rican voters in the US do not forget the insult to Puerto Rico by casting their vote
-
International2 days ago
New bombings south of Beirut after a wave of attacks in east Lebanon that has caused 40 deaths
-
International3 days ago
Trump: “It’s a political victory that has never been seen before. I’m going to be the 47º president”
-
International3 days ago
Donald Trump: the master of provocation who never admits defeat
-
International2 days ago
Trump surpassed Bush’s record in the Latino vote in the elections
-
International2 days ago
Keys to the political crisis in Germany: What will happen after the breakup of the coalition government?
-
International3 days ago
Europe receives Trump’s victory ready to collaborate and work for peace
-
International2 days ago
Mayor Adams says New York will continue to be home for the LGTB community and for migrants
-
International3 days ago
The international far-right sings victory with Donald Trump
-
International2 days ago
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon continues to decline and falls another 31% in the last year
-
International13 hours ago
Cuba tries to recover two days after the impact of Hurricane Rafael
-
International2 days ago
Joe Biden says that choosing Kamala Harris as vice president was “the best decision”
-
International2 days ago
Israel will receive 25 state-of-the-art fighter jets funded by the United States
-
International2 days ago
Cuba recognizes “very strong” damage to houses and infrastructure due to the passage of Rafael
-
International3 days ago
Donald Trump wins the elections in the United States after a close campaign and will be president again
-
International2 days ago
Xi congratulates Trump and calls for a “stable, healthy and sustainable” relationship between China and the United States
-
International2 days ago
China congratulates Trump and “respects” the decision of the American people