Central America
Ortega a shoo-in in ‘sham’ Nicaragua vote
AFP
Nicaraguans go to the polls Sunday for presidential elections dismissed as a “sham” by the international community, with all viable challengers to long-term leader Daniel Ortega locked up or in exile.
As Ortega, 75, prepared to claim a fourth consecutive term — his fifth overall — the United States described Nicaragua as a “cautionary tale” with a regime “determined to hold on to power at any cost.”
“It will be quite clear that these elections will have no credibility, that they’re a sham,” Patrick Ventrell, the US State Department’s Central American Affairs director said Thursday.
“We are going into a scenario where you have a dictatorship, and we’ll have to respond to such.”
Just over three years after massive protests against his rule and a violent crackdown that claimed more than 300 lives, Ortega is assured another five-year term with his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, 70, by his side.
Seven people who had any real shot at the presidency are among 39 opposition figures detained in a brutal government clampdown that started in June.
Ortega, the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), faces five opponents, though in name only — all are derided as regime collaborators.
The vote in Central America’s poorest country will take place without international observers and with most foreign media denied access to the country.
Nicaragua’s last opposition daily, La Prensa, had its director thrown in prison in August, and Facebook announced this week it had closed a government-operated troll farm spreading anti-opposition messages.
Amid the suppression, fear vies with apathy among Nicaragua’s 4.3 million eligible voters. Voting is not mandatory in the country of 6.5 million.
“There is no one to vote for. Daniel (Ortega) has it in the bag,” a 46-year-old woman told AFP at her home in Masaya, 35 kilometers (20 miles) south of the capital Managua.
She asked not to be named. “One cannot talk. You’ll go to jail,” she said.
– All sewn up –
A firebrand Marxist in his youth, Ortega ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, after the guerrilla ousting of US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
Returning to power in 2007, he has won reelection three times, becoming increasingly authoritarian and quashing presidential term limits.
Two-thirds of respondents in a recent Cid-Gallup poll said they would have voted for an opposition candidate on Sunday.
The favorite was Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro who is the only person to have beaten Ortega in an election, in 1990.
But Chamorro is under house arrest, and six other presidential hopefuls are behind bars in conditions their family members say amount to torture.
The jailed opposition figures are accused of unspecified attacks on Nicaragua’s “sovereignty” under a law passed by a parliament dominated by Ortega allies, who also control the judicial and electoral branches.
Election authorities have banned the country’s main opposition alliance, Citizens for Freedom, from contesting Sunday’s vote, just like in 2016 when Ortega won unopposed.
Three political parties and dozens of civic organizations are prohibited.
– ‘A complete sham’ –
A grouping of Nicaraguan and international NGOs this week urged the United Nations to investigate “gross human rights violations” under Ortega’s rule.
“Ortega will continue in power… and the repression against those who defend human rights and think differently to the regime will likely worsen,” said the group that calls itself Colectivo 46/2.
Apart from about 150 political opponents known to be behind bars, more than 100,000 Nicaraguans are in exile to avoid arrest — mainly in Costa Rica, Miami and Madrid.
For Ortega — whose main allies are Venezuela, Cuba and Russia — his jailed critics are not political prisoners but “criminals” seeking to overthrow him with US backing.
– ‘Dictator’ –
The wave of arrests has worsened ties with the United States and European Union, who have imposed sanctions against Ortega family members and allies.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has branded Ortega a “dictator” staging “fake” elections, and on Wednesday, the US Congress approved a law to ramp up punitive measures.
In the United States, Europe and other Latin American countries, opponents of the Ortega regime are planning protests for Sunday and agitating for a boycott of the vote.
In Nicaragua itself, gatherings of more than 200 people are banned, ostensibly as a coronavirus prevention measure.
More than 30,000 police and military have been deployed to guard 3,000 polling stations.
Polls are due to open at 13H00 GMT (7:00 am) and close 11 hours later.
The results, predictable as they are, are expected the same day.
Central America
Mulino warns Trump: Darién is U.S.’s ‘other border’ in call for bilateral solutions to migration
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino reiterated on Thursday that the Darién region is “the other border” of the United States and that President-elect Donald Trump must understand this, given his announcement to toughen U.S. immigration policy.
“And I repeat what I have said: he (Trump) must know that his other border, the U.S. border, is in Darién, and we need to begin solving this issue bilaterally or together with a group of countries that contribute people to the migratory flow,” Mulino stated during his weekly press conference.
The Panamanian leader added that the United States “needs to be more aware that this (the flow of irregular migrants through Darién) is their problem. These people are not coming to stay in Panama… they want to go to the United States for whatever reasons they may have.”
In 2023, more than 520,000 irregular migrants crossed the Darién jungle into Panama, a historic figure. This year, the flow has decreased, with more than 281,000 travelers making the journey by October 31, mostly Venezuelans (over 196,000), according to Panama’s National Migration Service.
“Panama is doing what it can,” Mulino said, emphasizing the country’s significant financial investment in security, medical care, and food for migrants. However, he noted, “As long as the crisis in Venezuela persists, all signs point to this continuing, with the human drama that it involves.”
He emphasized that Venezuelans make up the majority of those crossing the jungle, with 69% according to Panamanian statistics, followed by Colombians (6%), Ecuadorians (5%), Chinese (4%), and Haitians (4%). The rest come from over fifty countries worldwide.
On July 1, when Mulino began his five-year term, Panama and the United States signed an agreement under which the U.S. government covers the costs of repatriating migrants who entered through Darién. Under this program, which is funded with $6 million, more than 1,000 people have already been deported, mostly Colombians.
Central America
Ten dead in Panama due to storms causing over $100 million in damages
Ten people have died in Panama due to storms that have caused over $100 million in damages from flooding and infrastructure collapse in the last ten days, President José Raúl Mulino reported on Thursday.
The most affected areas are the western provinces of Chiriquí, which borders Costa Rica, Veraguas, and the indigenous Ngäbe Buglé comarca, due to heavy rains that have been falling for more than ten days.
During his weekly press conference, Mulino initially stated that the storm had caused five deaths, but this was immediately corrected by the director of the National Civil Protection Service (Sinaproc), Omar Smith, who confirmed that the number of deaths had risen to ten.
“What worries me are the human lives, I think we had five (deaths), how many? Ten already? Imagine that,” Mulino said.
Last year, Panama experienced a drought that led to reduced traffic through the interoceanic canal, which operates on fresh water, but the situation began to normalize this year with the onset of the rainy season, which has been abundant since May.
The president announced that the government will declare a state of emergency for the affected areas, where rivers have overflowed, homes have been damaged, landslides have occurred, roads have collapsed, and crops have been lost.
“Based on the reports I’ve received, the damage is significant,” Mulino noted.
Central America
Bukele urges Costa Rica to reform prison system amid rising crime rates
El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, recommended that Costa Rica toughen its prison system, describing it as too “permissive” after visiting a Costa Rican prison with his counterpart, Rodrigo Chaves, on Tuesday at the end of an official visit.
“We believe the prison system should be less permissive, focusing more on the rights of those outside and a country’s right to security,” Bukele said after touring the La Reforma prison, located 23 km east of San José.
During Bukele’s visit to Costa Rica, the two presidents discussed different security approaches and strategies to combat organized crime. They also signed memorandums of understanding on tourism, trade, and bilateral relations.
Bukele noted the contrasts between Costa Rica’s prison system and that of El Salvador, which he reformed as part of his “war” against gangs launched in March 2022 under a state of emergency allowing arrests without warrants.
The Salvadoran president pointed out Costa Rica’s high cost per inmate, which he estimated at around $1,200 per month.
“They are spending nearly two minimum wages per inmate. It’s an injustice,” Bukele stated, adding that Costa Rica’s penal system “needs reform.”
Regarding inmate rights, Bukele suggested limiting intimate visits and TV access to prevent prisons from becoming “headquarters for crime.”
“We hope you take the necessary measures,” Bukele said about the increase in crime in Costa Rica, which has seen 757 homicides in 2024, mostly related to drug trafficking.
85% of Haiti’s capital has fallen into the power of gangs, according to UN reports
One-week preventive detention for Princess Mette-Marit’s son of Norway for rape
The next attorney general Matt Gaetz manages to stop the report on his sex scandal
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 43 dead
-
International3 days agoMore than 20 dead and a hundred injured in several missile attacks against residential areas of Odessa and Sumi
-
International4 days agoPedro Sánchez to explain government’s handling of deadly floods in congress appearance
-
International4 days agoFire in India’s Jhansi Hospital kills 10 newborns
-
International4 days agoSinaloa cartel network dismantled in Spain following kidnapping and ransom incident
-
International3 days agoThe number of deaths rises to 111 in Gaza in one of the most violent days of the month
-
International2 days agoEtruscan artifacts targeted in black market scheme uncovered in Umbria
-
Tecnología2 days agoAI chip industry shifts focus as Nvidia faces new competition
-
International2 days agoIran expands uranium stockpile to near weapons-grade levels
-
International3 days agoThe presidential candidates in Uruguay promised in a debate not to raise taxes
-
International12 hours agoThe US claims that China has rejected a meeting between its Defense chiefs in Laos
-
International3 days agoThe Kremlin accuses the United States of throwing “firewood” by authorizing Ukraine to use long-range missiles
-
International12 hours agoThe next attorney general Matt Gaetz manages to stop the report on his sex scandal
-
International12 hours agoOne-week preventive detention for Princess Mette-Marit’s son of Norway for rape
-
International3 days agoAntónio Guterres asks G20 leaders to “take a step forward” for peace in Ukraine and Gaza
-
International4 days agoSeven british citizens arrested in Spain for hashish trafficking 1.2 tons seized
-
International12 hours ago85% of Haiti’s capital has fallen into the power of gangs, according to UN reports
-
International3 days agoHezbulá regrets the death of its spokesman in an Israeli bombing in Beirut