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Central America

Nicaragua detains four more opposition figures

AFP/Editor

Nicaraguan police said Sunday that they had detained four more opposition figures in a roundup ahead of November presidential elections in which four would-be challengers of long-serving leader Daniel Ortega have already been held.

Those arrested Sunday were top figures of the Unamos opposition party — its president Suyen Barahona Cuan, vice-president Hugo Torres, ex-guerilla Dora Maria Tellez and Ana Margarita Vigil Guardian, a police statement said.

It said the four were being investigated for “acts that undermine independence, sovereignty and self-determination, (and) inciting foreign interference in internal affairs,” among other crimes.

Unamos, formerly known as the Sandinista Renewal Movement (MRS), is made up largely of dissidents who split from Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) because they disagreed with his leadership.

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The charges stem from a law initiated by Ortega’s government and approved by parliament in December to defend Nicaragua’s “sovereignty,” which has been criticized by opponents and rights bodies as a means of freezing out challengers.

Julie Chung, the top US diplomat for Latin America, called the arrests “arbitrary” and denounced Ortega’s “campaign of terror” in a tweet.

“OAS (Organization of American States) members must send a clear signal this week: enough repression. The region cannot stand by and wait to see who is next,” she added.

Among the latest detainees, Tellez, 65, has in recent years been a vocal critic of Ortega, a former comrade-in-arms. 

They fought together as guerillas against the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in the 1970s, and she later served as his health minister in the 1980s, before leaving in 1995 to co-found the MRS.

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She was fiercely critical of the Ortega’s government clampdown on demonstrations that started in 2018 to demand his resignation, which according to rights groups claimed at least 328 lives.

Ortega governed Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, returned to power in 2007 and has won two successive reelections since then.

Now 75, he is accused by the opposition and NGOs of increasing authoritarianism.

Ortega is widely expected to seek a fourth term in November elections, though he has not said so.

Since the beginning of the month, his forces have arrested about a dozen opposition figures, including four would-be presidential candidates, eliciting international condemnation and fresh US sanctions against Ortega allies.

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Last month, Nicaragua’s legislature appointed a majority of governing party-aligned magistrates to the election body that will oversee the vote.

It has since disqualified two parties from participating.

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Central America

Guatemala Court Voids List of Candidates for Top Prosecutor Position

President of Guatemala cannot remove attorney general from office

Constitutional Court of Guatemala on Thursday annulled the shortlist of six candidates for attorney general and head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, ordering authorities to repeat the evaluation phase of the selection process.

The ruling came in response to a legal appeal filed by Raúl Amílcar Falla Ovalle, who challenged the way professional experience had been assessed for some applicants, particularly those with careers in the judiciary.

As a result of the decision, the selection process has been suspended, and the Postulation Commission must return to the stage in which the original 48 applicants were evaluated.

According to the ruling, the commission must reapply the grading criteria without automatically counting years served as judges as equivalent to the professional experience required for the position.

“The Postulation Commission for the election of the Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is ordered to reassess the applicants by strictly applying the approved grading table,” the resolution states.

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The Constitutional Court also stressed that the process must guarantee merit, competence, and suitability, while ensuring greater transparency in the assignment of scores.

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Central America

U.S. extradites Iranian man over alleged sanctions evasion scheme

The United States has extradited from Panama an Iranian national accused of evading economic sanctions against Iran by illegally exporting U.S. technology. He is scheduled to appear this Monday before a court in Seattle.

Reza Dindar, 44, was extradited on April 17 after being detained in Panama since July 2025 on charges related to export control violations between 2011 and 2012, allegedly carried out through companies based in China.

The defendant appeared before a U.S. district court in Seattle, where he faces charges of violating sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran in 1995 during the administration of Bill Clinton. These sanctions prohibit the unauthorized export, re-export, or supply—directly or indirectly—of U.S. goods, technology, or services to Iran or its government.

According to the indictment, between 2010 and 2014, Dindar led the company New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xi’an, China, which allegedly concealed the procurement of U.S. products for shipment to clients in Iran.

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Central America

Bukele administration surpasses 1,100 homicide-free days amid ongoing crackdown

El Salvador's PNC adds 85 days without murders and April is on track to be the safest in Salvadoran history

On Saturday, April 18, the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) reported that no homicides were recorded in El Salvador, bringing the total to 17 days without murders.

With this update, the country has accumulated 91 homicide-free days so far in 2026. January closed with 27 such days, followed by 24 in February and 23 in March, according to police data.

During the administration of President Nayib Bukele, a total of 1,193 days without homicides have been registered. Of those, 1,079 have occurred since the implementation of the state of exception.

This extraordinary security measure has been extended 49 times by the Asamblea Legislativa de El Salvador, with the latest extension in effect from April 1 to April 30, 2026. Under the measure, more than 91,700 gang members and collaborators have been detained and prosecuted for illicit association.

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