Central America

China reopens embassy in Nicaragua after diplomatic switch

AFP

China reopened its embassy in Nicaragua on Friday, a few weeks after the Central American country switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing.

That change was a political win for China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up pressure to isolate the self-ruled island on the international stage.

The announcement three weeks ago leaves Taiwan with just 14 diplomatic allies, even as Taipei strengthens ties with multiple unofficial Western friends including the United States.

Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, speaking at a ceremony marking the reopening of the embassy, said: “You are welcome in our Nicaragua… with the certainty that both countries have ahead of us a future of successes and victories in our brotherly relations.”

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The new Chinese embassy will be under the orders of Yu Bu, who inaugurated it at the ceremony with Moncada and other officials including Laureano Ortega, a son of and advisor to President Daniel Ortega.

China has spent decades encouraging Taiwan’s dwindling diplomatic allies to switch sides, including three others in Latin America in recent years — Panama, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

On December 9, the Ortega administration announced that Nicaragua was following suit.

“The People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” Moncada said at the time.

A firebrand Marxist in his youth, Ortega ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990. He previously changed recognition to China in 1985 but a successor, Violeta Chamorro, switched it back five years later.

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The restoration of ties with China comes as the United States and the European Union intensify sanctions against Nicaragua. Ortega won a fourth term in office in November in elections in which his main rivals were in jail.

Central America

Guatemala’s president rules out negotiations with inmates after prison riots

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo stressed that his administration will not negotiate with inmates nor restore concessions granted under previous governments, insisting that the Executive’s priority is to maintain control of the prison system and restore order in detention centers.

Arévalo said one of the key measures implemented by authorities was the blocking of mobile phone signals inside prisons, an action he described as decisive in regaining control of the Renovación 1 penitentiary.

The riots reported at Renovación 1, Fraijanes 2, and the Preventive Detention Center for Men in Zone 18 of Guatemala City were aimed at pressuring the state to recover privileges that had been recently revoked, Arévalo said during a press conference held Wednesday at the National Palace of Culture.

The president explained that inmates were seeking to reinstate special detention conditions, including air conditioning, king-size beds, and internet access, benefits that he said were eliminated by the current administration.

“They attempted to extort the state in order to return to that system of privileges, but they failed,” Arévalo emphasized.

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Central America

Mazatenango Carnival cancelled amid State of Siege in Guatemala

The municipal government of Mazatenango, in the department of Suchitepéquez, Guatemala, has cancelled the city’s traditional Carnival as a security measure aimed at protecting visitors and residents.

The decision was announced on Tuesday through the municipality’s official Facebook page and comes as a preventive action amid the state of siege declared by the national government last Sunday.

The Mazatenango Carnival, one of the country’s most emblematic festivities, boasts more than 140 years of traditionand typically draws large crowds from across Guatemala and neighboring regions. Its program usually includes parades of floats, the traditional “Rabbit Race,” street dancing and live music, concerts, and cultural events in the Central Plaza.

According to the official statement, the cancellation responds to the current security context and the restrictions associated with the state of siege, prioritizing public safety.

Municipal authorities clarified that the scheduled concert by La Arrolladora Banda El Limón will still take place separately and will be the sole responsibility of the private production company, independent of the cancelled carnival activities.

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Central America

Guatemala raises police death toll to nine after gang violence escalates

Guatemalan authorities raised the death toll of police officers killed in a wave of gang violence to nine on Monday, after one officer wounded in the attacks died from his injuries. The violence prompted the government to declare a state of siege.

Criminal gangs launched a series of coordinated attacks against police forces across several parts of the country in retaliation for the government’s recapture of three prisons, where gang leaders had been holding dozens of prison guards hostage. Authorities said the hostages were used to pressure officials into transferring gang leaders to facilities with looser security measures.

Eight police officers were killed on Sunday. Another officer, identified as Frayan Medrano, died Monday in a public hospital after being shot while riding a motorcycle with a colleague, who remains in critical condition, according to police and the Ministry of the Interior.