Central America
Tropical Storm Lisa moves towards Mexico after lashing Belize
| By AFP |
Tropical Storm Lisa slowed on Thursday after making landfall in Belize, causing flooding and plunging parts of the country into darkness as it churned westwards toward Mexico.
Both Mexico and Belize dropped their coastal tropical storm warnings as the former hurricane weakened and headed west at 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers per hour), according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.
Forecasters warned that the tourist-popular coast of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula should continue monitoring the situation as the maximum sustained winds decreased to around 45 mph (75 kph).
For the next day or so, the storm system is expected to pack a gusty punch and deliver heavy rain, swells and flash flooding to northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico, further weakening as it moves inland.
Lisa slammed into the Sibun River just southwest of economic hub and former capital Belize City around 2120 GMT on Wednesday, uprooting trees, downing power lines and inundating streets.
“It’s very dangerous for us” because in Belize “it floods quickly, even with moderate rain,” Jasmin Ayuso, a 21-year-old secretary, told AFP.
A state of emergency was declared in two areas, while a curfew was in effect until dawn on Thursday.
Some parts of Belize were left without power as the storm lashed the country of about 405,000 people.
“BEL is aware of power outages affecting several areas of the country,” the utility wrote on Facebook. “We assure the public that our teams are taking note of the reports of damages to the power system, including fallen power lines and poles.”
Schools and most businesses were closed in anticipation of the storm and the government set up several shelters.
In Belize City and neighboring areas, local media showed weather-battered buildings, flooded streets and yanked out trees after Lisa landed.
The storm is forecast to be further downgraded to a tropical depression by the end of the day before dissipating over Mexico.
Evacuations in Guatemala
The NHC said Lisa could drop up to 10 inches (250 millimetres) of rain in some areas of Belize, northern Guatemala and several states in southern Mexico.
The Yucatan Peninsula, Honduras’ Bay Islands and other areas of Central America were forecast to receive up to six inches of rain.
In Guatemala, heavy rain caused flooding and landslides in the northernmost department Peten on the border with Belize.
About 143 people were evacuated and 48 remain in a shelter, Oscar Cossio, secretary of the National Coordination for Disaster Reduction (CONRED), told a press conference.
Schools in the north canceled classes.
Lisa arrives not even three weeks after the passage of Julia, another Category 1 hurricane, which caused dozens of deaths in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Lisa is the 12th named storm this season, a designation given to systems that produce winds of 39 mph (63 kph) or greater, according to the NHC.
Last year’s active Atlantic hurricane season, which officially runs from June through November, saw 21 named storms.
Central America
Arévalo calls corruption the “fuel of inequality” and reaffirms commitment to public transparency
Guatemala’s President, Bernardo Arévalo, stated on Friday that corruption is “the food of misery” in his country and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to continuing to strengthen public spending transparency.
During the first anniversary of the National Commission Against Corruption (CNC) established by his administration, the president expressed his satisfaction with the progress made.
“The road has been difficult,” he said, “but I am greatly satisfied with the fight against corruption, which is the fuel of inequality and the food of misery,” the president declared before members of the international community and government officials.
Arévalo also mentioned that the people who elected him in 2023 for a four-year term that began on January 14, 2024, “demand that we combat corruption.”
Central America
Zúñiga hopes CIDH experts can help investigate intellectual authors of Berta Cáceres’ murder
Bertha Zúñiga, daughter of the murdered Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres, expressed her hope on Friday to EFE that the expert group appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) will help investigate the authorship of the crime to “heal the wounds” and rebuild the social fabric in indigenous communities affected by the hydroelectric project her mother opposed.
The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) represents an “effort to exhaust the investigations” into the responsibilities of all individuals involved in Cáceres’ murder, as well as in the “violence suffered” from the implementation of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, led by the company Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA), emphasized Zúñiga.
“We hope that, with the collaboration of the prosecutorial entities, (the experts) will effectively collaborate to move forward on what we have proposed and demanded for many years: formally requiring the intellectual authors of this crime and analyzing the related crimes,” including corruption and other violations, as well as proposing a comprehensive reparation plan for the victims of the hydroelectric project,” Zúñiga explained.
The CIDH appointed a group of four experts from Argentina, Chile, the United States, and Guatemala on Friday to provide technical assistance to Honduras in investigating the intellectual authorship of Cáceres’ murder, which occurred on March 2, 2016, while she was sleeping in her home in La Esperanza, despite the multiple death threats she had reported due to her opposition to the Agua Zarca project.
Central America
Nicaragua’s family confinement program: 7.18% of released prisoners reoffend
Nicaraguan authorities have released a total of 48,964 common prisoners under the family confinement regime over the past ten years, with 7.18% of them reoffending by committing at least one crime, according to the country’s vice president, Rosario Murillo.
Murillo, who is also the wife of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and appointed “co-president” in a reform to the Constitution, stated through official media that “7.18% are individuals who have reoffended in criminal activity from 2015 to today, February 14, 2025.”
This means that 3,515 out of the 48,964 common prisoners with final sentences who have been granted family confinement privileges have returned to criminal activity, according to the report.
The early release of common prisoners has faced criticism, particularly from feminist organizations, who argue that these benefits have contributed to an increase in femicides and general crime in Nicaragua.
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