Central America
Nicaragua opposition leader flees to Costa Rica to avoid detention
AFP
The head of Nicaragua’s opposition party Citizens Alliance for Liberty said Tuesday she had left the country for Costa Rica, fearing she would be added to the list of rival politicians arrested by President Daniel Ortega’s government.
“Nobody is safe anymore,” said Carmella Rogers, also known as Kitty Monterrey, in a televised interview with Telenoticias in Costa Rica — her first public appearance in several days.
“(Staying) didn’t make sense, they were going to take me to jail or they were going to deport me.”
Last week, officials canceled the CxL head’s national identity card and passport.
“I’ve been in hiding since Friday,” Monterrey said. “I was looking for a way out that had to be gradual to get here in a safe way. It was difficult and I’m tired, but here I am.”
The 71-year-old’s exile comes after her right-wing party on Friday was disqualified from standing in November’s election by the electoral court, which is dominated by the ruling party.
The party’s vice-presidential candidate Berenice Quezada had been placed under house arrest that week.
With three months to go before the country’s elections, Nicaragua’s government has detained 32 opposition politicians that they accused of treason.
Among them are seven potential candidates who could run against Ortega, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term.
The 75-year-old former guerilla first took office in 2007 as part of the left-wing Sandinista National Liberation Front.
His government faces sanctions from the United States and the European Union, which accuse him of humans rights violations and the repression of opposition figures, which began with anti-government protests in 2018.
Ortega accuses the opposition of trying to overthrow him with the support of the United States.
Despite her presence in Costa Rica, Monterrey, who has an American father and Nicaraguan mother, said: “I am never going to stop being Nicaraguan. I am going to continue to fight for Nicaragua, this does not end here.”
She will seek to legalize her stay in Costa Rica under her US citizenship.
“I think I will stay in Costa Rica if possible,” she said. “I want to be close to my country.”
Monterrey’s opponents blame her for blocking efforts by Nicaragua’s opposition parties and other social forces to mount a unified fight against Ortega.
“It’s not that we are divided, it’s that there have been different opinions,” said Monterrey, who has said the CxL is best-suited to lead the charge.
Even though it was clear the government “was committing fraud, we had to continue doing the impossible within the civic route,” she said.
Central America
Guatemalan soldier wounded in clash with suspected mexican armed group near border
A clash between Guatemalan soldiers and a suspected Mexican armed group that crossed into Guatemalan territory left one soldier wounded on Monday, the army reported.
The border between the two countries has been shaken by actions carried out by Mexican criminal groups, and as recently as last June, Mexican armed forces briefly entered Guatemala during an operation against organized crime.
“Suspected illegal armed groups entered national territory, specifically along the Guatemala–Mexico border,” in communities located in the departments of Huehuetenango and San Marcos (both in the southwest), army spokesperson Pamela Figueroa told reporters.
She explained that the criminal group opened fire on several communities in the area, but Guatemalan soldiers on routine patrol responded, which “triggered the confrontation.”
One officer was injured in a lower limb but is in stable condition, she added.
The armed forces have reinforced operations in the area, which led to the discovery of “weapons, explosives, accessories, and surveillance equipment, including drones,” Figueroa said.
On June 8, agents from the Mexican state of Chiapas crossed the border into Guatemala in an incident that ended with four alleged criminals dead.
The action prompted a protest from Guatemala and a formal apology from Mexico.
The two countries share a nearly 1,000-kilometer border marked by illegal crossings and insecurity. In some areas, drug trafficking groups from both nations operate.
In August 2024, following an unprecedented flight of Mexican farmers into Guatemala to escape violence between rival drug gangs, the two countries agreed to conduct joint security operations along their common border.
Currently, about 100 Mexicans who fled cartel violence last August remain sheltered in a Guatemalan village near the border.
Central America
Guatemala reverses asset seizures after judge replacement, benefiting ex-president and former ministers
A recent change in the judge overseeing asset forfeiture cases in Guatemala has accelerated the return of seized properties to individuals accused of corruption and drug trafficking. Among the former officials who have benefited are former Communications Minister Alejandro Sinibaldi; former President Otto Pérez Molina; former FCN-Nación lawmaker Herber Melgar Padilla; and former presidential candidate Manuel Baldizón.
According to a special report published by the Diario de Centro América, a turning point occurred between April and July 2024 in the handling of assets confiscated under suspicion of corruption or organized crime. The report indicates that, following the removal of the head of the Asset Forfeiture Court, rulings began to shift, and properties previously under state control were returned to former officials facing criminal proceedings.
In a move widely criticized by analysts and legal experts, Marco Antonio Villeda—now serving as Minister of the Interior—was transferred after more than 10 years from the Asset Forfeiture Court to the Eighth Criminal Court. His replacement, Jaime Delmar González Marín, had previously issued rulings favorable to relatives of former President Jimmy Morales.
Since then, several political figures and ex-officials accused of corruption—including Sinibaldi, Pérez Molina, Melgar Padilla, Baldizón, and Miguel Martínez, a senior official in the previous administration—have regained access to seized assets.
During Villeda’s tenure, authorities froze six properties, bank accounts, and two helicopters linked to former President Pérez Molina; land and deposits worth at least 60 million quetzales connected to Sinibaldi; and a building in Guatemala City’s Zone 15 tied to Baldizón.
These developments are reflected in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ 2025 Report on the Human Rights Situation in Guatemala, which concludes that there has been a “shift in approach to asset forfeiture proceedings.”
For experts such as Juan Francisco Sandoval, former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), Villeda’s transfer was not “a mere temporal coincidence,” but rather an event that occurred “at a moment when efforts were underway to reconfigure institutional structures and centers of control.”
Central America
Honduras vote vount drags on as Asfura and Nasralla remain in technical tie
Honduras remained on edge this Friday as the presidential election vote count continued, with a technical tie persisting between right-wing candidates Nasry Asfura, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, and Salvador Nasralla, five days after the election.
The vote tally has progressed slowly, with interruptions and amid fraud allegations from Nasralla, the 72-year-old television host and candidate of the Liberal Party (PL).
“The world is already talking about the fraud they are trying to commit against” the Liberal Party, Nasralla wrote on X, as he denounced irregularities in the uploading of vote tally sheets into the system and announced legal challenges.
With 88% of the polling station records counted, Asfura of the conservative National Party (PN) leads with 40.20%, while Nasralla follows closely with 39.47%, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE).
Around 2,000 tally sheets with inconsistencies will also undergo a special review. Nasralla has questioned whether the CNE will be able to deliver final results before December 30, the legal deadline for announcing the official outcome.
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