Central America

Fists fly in Honduran Congress ahead of new president’s inauguration

AFP

Lawmakers exchanged blows in the Honduran Congress Friday as a dispute among members of president-elect Xiomara Castro’s party turned violent.

Legislators from her leftist Libre party protested after 20 rebel members proposed Jorge Calix, one of their cohorts, as provisional congress president.

Castro loyalists claimed this violated a pact with Libre’s coalition partner.

Amid cries of “traitors” and “Xiomara!”, angry Libre legislators forced their way to the podium while Calix was being sworn in, causing him to flee under a hail of punches and much pushing and shoving.

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It was the first sitting of the 128-member Congress since elections last November.

Following an emergency party meeting later on Friday, the president-elect announced that the 20 members had been expelled from Libre, calling them “traitors” and “corrupt”.

The crisis began late Thursday when Castro called her party’s 50 legislators to a meeting to ask them to support Luis Redondo of the Savior Party of Honduras (PSH) as congress president.

The 20 rebel members did not attend.

On Friday, Libre leader Gilberto Rios told AFP that the 20 are backed by groups that wish to stop Castro’s promised anti-corruption campaign, including people in “organized crime” and “drug trafficking.”

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Castro won elections on November 28 to become Honduras’ first woman president and end 12 years of National Party rule.

She won as part of an alliance between Libre and the PSH, to which the presidency of Congress was promised.

Castro accused the dissidents of “betraying the constitutional agreement” and “making alliances with representatives of organized crime, corruption and drug trafficking.”

Her husband Manuel Zelaya, a former president who was deposed in a 2009 coup supported by the military, business elites and the political right, is a senior Libre party official.

Castro is to be sworn in on January 27 along with other senior officials, including the congress president, at a ceremony attended by international guests including US Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Central America

El Salvador sees 45% surge in international tourists during holiday period

Tourism in El Salvador continues to grow during the holiday period, with a 45% increase in international arrivals compared to 2025, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism.

Tourism Minister Morena Valdez reported that the country received around 48,000 foreign visitors between Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, surpassing the 33,000 recorded during the same period last year.

International visitor behavior remains consistent, with most travelers arriving at the El Salvador International Airport and heading directly to coastal destinations, particularly Surf City and the beaches of La Libertad.

“Sun and beach tourism accounts for 80% of global travel demand. Surf City, with all the positioning work that has been done, is where visitors go, especially because it is close to the airport,” Valdez said in an interview.

However, tourism activity is not limited to La Libertad. Other destinations such as Costa del Sol, Surf City 2, as well as beaches in the western and eastern regions of the country, are also experiencing high visitor traffic.

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Central America

Panama seizes over 1,200 drug packages in container bound for Lithuania

Authorities in Panama reported the seizure of 1,251 packages of suspected drugs hidden inside a shipping container bound for Lithuania, just days after intercepting another shipment of similar size headed to the same destination.

The Panama Public Prosecutor’s Office stated on social media that, through its Colón Drug Prosecutor’s Office and in coordination with the National Anti-Drug Directorate, authorities carried out the operation. The illicit substance was discovered inside a container scheduled for export.

Last Friday, officials also seized 1,506 packages of drugs in another container destined for Lithuania.

While authorities have not specified the type or exact weight of the seized substance, drug packages in Panama typically weigh around one kilogram each, and cocaine remains the most commonly confiscated narcotic in the country.

So far this year, Panamanian authorities have reported multiple drug seizures. Among them was a shipment of 5,356 packages intercepted on January 17, when agents of the National Aeronaval Service (SENAN) stopped a vessel near the Pearl Islands archipelago in the Pacific.

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According to official figures, in 2025 Panama seized 129 tons of drugs and 47.8 tons of chemical precursors, highlighting ongoing efforts to combat international drug trafficking.

Central America

Guatemala narrows emergency measures to hardest-hit gang violence areas

The government of Guatemala has narrowed the scope of its state of emergency to the areas most affected by gang violence, Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda announced on Thursday.

The measure comes two months after coordinated attacks attributed to the Barrio 18 left 11 police officers dead.

President Bernardo Arévalo initially imposed a state of siege in mid-January following the violence, which was reportedly in retaliation for government intervention in three prisons where gang leaders had staged uprisings.

That measure, which allowed arrests without a warrant, expired after one month. It was then replaced by a less restrictive “state of prevention,” alongside an increased security deployment in Guatemala City and surrounding areas.

According to Villeda, the state of prevention has been extended for two additional weeks but will now apply primarily to the central department of Guatemala — home to the capital — and Escuintla, which have recorded the highest levels of homicides and criminal activity.

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“We need to continue these joint operations between the police and the military to maintain control,” the minister said.

The measure will also remain in effect in border departments including Petén, San Marcos and Huehuetenango, which border Mexico, as well as Izabal, which borders Honduras and Belize, in an effort to prevent the entry of criminal groups linked to drug trafficking.

Villeda added that in the past two weeks, homicides have dropped by 25% and extortion cases by 33% compared to the same period in 2025.