Central America
Salvadoran heroes who provided aid in Turkey return home
February 19 |
After nine days away from home, the Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) El Salvador and the Humanitarian Rescue Unit (HRU) of the Armed Forces, made up of 111 rescuers, military and health personnel, who carried out search and rescue work in Turkey, returned to Salvadoran soil.
This nation was strongly affected last February 6 by two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 on the Richter scale, and El Salvador was one of the first countries to send rescue support.
The Salvadoran heroes landed on their return flight on Saturday afternoon at the San Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport, where they were received by the authorities of the Ministries of the Interior, Defense, Health, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and the directors of Civil Protection and Firefighters.
“Thank you, a great job, it is a pride to work with you, it is a pride to have you at home, welcome heroes”, were the words of the Minister of the Interior, Juan Carlos Bidegain.
He added that thanks to the work done, El Salvador was able to demonstrate in Turkey that it has highly prepared teams that have now been placed among the elite USAR teams around the world.
“We are the ones who are grateful to you, what you have done, what you have done is incredible, what you have done is wonderful,” said Bidegain.
For his part, Erick Vázquez, lieutenant of the USAR-EL SALVADOR group, in his report to the authorities, highlighted the rescue of two people alive.
“We have done a job with all the logistics involved, we went to put into practice everything we learned. We had the joy of performing two rescues, a minor and a woman of approximately 30 years of age, we are proud to have done it”, celebrated Vázquez.
He explained that during their stay in Turkey, from February 9 to 17, they worked in 15 buildings, in which the canine unit and the rescuers did the work they were assigned to do, earning the respect and admiration of USAR groups from the rest of the world.
“Leaders of other USAR groups around the world have told us that we have positioned ourselves among the best, along with France, Germany and Egypt, among others,” Vazquez said.
The recognition given by the leaders of other USAR groups was also shared by Defense Minister Rene Francis Merino Monroy.
“I want to highlight the level of the two search teams of El Salvador [USAR and UHR] to provide assistance to other countries,” said the official.
At the same time he added: “We have in El Salvador a response team that can highly prepared to help foreign countries”.
Merino Monroy congratulated the USAR and UHR team of the Armed Forces for putting the name of El Salvador on high and fulfilling the mission entrusted to them.
“The mission that was entrusted to them, to the USAR and UHR group of the Armed Forces, to rescue lives was fulfilled, in addition to reviewing and cleaning each of the buildings in which they worked,” said the minister.
Turkey’s ambassador to El Salvador, Gül Büyükerşen, also received the heroes and expressed her gratitude for the support of the Salvadoran teams, as well as to President Nayib Bukele’s willingness to help from the first moment.
“President Nayib Bukele was one of the first leaders who spoke with my president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, by phone (after the earthquakes),” said the diplomat.
In addition, he stressed that “El Salvador may be a small country (in territory), but it has a big heart”.
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.
Central America
Juan Orlando Hernández thanks Donald Trump after U.S. pardon
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández expressed his gratitude on Wednesday to U.S. President Donald Trump after being pardoned on Monday following more than three years in a New York prison, where he had been sentenced in 2024 to 45 years for drug trafficking and firearms offenses.
Hernández thanked Trump on social media platform X, stating: “President Trump, thank you for listening and responding when it was most needed. You saw the injustice committed against me and my country and corrected it. Your support for Honduras, your leadership, and your timely decision meant everything to my freedom and my nation. You have my respect and gratitude forever.”
In his message, Hernández began by saying: “THANK GOD. All glory be to Him. I am a free man. I said it when I left my home, I said it when I was unjustly convicted, and I say it today as I regain my freedom. I am innocent.”
He also expressed deep appreciation to his family and friends who “never stopped fighting and praying” for him, while blaming, as Trump had, the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden for his conviction. Hernández described his trial as a manipulated process orchestrated by the Biden-Harris administration and the deep state, claiming there was no real evidence, only accusations from criminals seeking revenge.
Hernández was extradited to the U.S. in April 2022 and sentenced in June 2024. His wife, Ana García, told EFE that Hernández had written to Trump on October 28, his 57th birthday, requesting a pardon, which Trump granted. García added that the couple has not yet decided whether Hernández will return to Honduras, where he could face investigations for alleged corruption, according to Attorney General Johel Zelaya.
Central America
Honduras Extends Voting by One Hour Amid High Turnout, CNE Announces
The National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that polling stations will remain open an extra hour due to the high voter turnout in Honduras’ general elections this Sunday.
These elections—the twelfth since the country returned to constitutional order in 1980 after nearly two decades of military governments—will now run until 6:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT), the CNE said in a statement.
The extension may only be applied for the additional hour established in the Electoral Law, and polling stations may close only after the last voter already in line at closing time has cast their ballot, ensuring that all those waiting are able to participate, the CNE added.
More than six million of Honduras’ ten million inhabitants were called to the polls to elect the successor to leftist President Xiomara Castro, as well as 298 municipal mayors, 128 members of the national Congress, and 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament.
The presidential race features Rixi Moncada, candidate of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre); Nasry Asfura of the National Party, the main opposition force—publicly endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump—and Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, also running from the opposition.
Before the extension was announced, the CNE had indicated it would release its first preliminary report around 9:00 p.m. local time (03:00 GMT) and a second one at 11:00 p.m. (05:00 GMT). Final results must be published within 30 days following the election.
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