Central America
Costa Rica receives nuns expelled from Nicaragua by Daniel Ortega
April 13 |
Costa Rica received on Wednesday two nuns of the Dominican Congregation of the Annunciation who left Nicaragua after being expelled by the government of President Daniel Ortega.
The bishop of the Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia, Monsignor Manuel Eugenio Salazar, expressed his willingness to provide any support required by these nuns, who also have Costa Rican nationality, as well as their families and the rest of the congregation.
“The two religious sisters of the Dominican congregation of the Annunciation, Isabel and Cecilia Blanco Cubillo, expelled from Nicaragua, were received by their sister Violeta Blanco Cubillo together with her husband, Carlos Vargas, after 2 p.m., today, Wednesday 12”, informed the diocese in a communiqué.
The women were in charge of the Lopez Carazo Foundation Home for the Elderly, in the city of Rivas, in the south of Nicaragua, on the Pacific coast. However, the Ortega government gave the nuns 72 hours to leave the country, reported Confidencial, directed by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro.
Along with the Costa Rican nuns there was also a Salvadoran woman in charge of the Home for the Elderly.
The Nicaraguan government has not made any statement on the expulsion of the nuns.
Voice of America asked for comments from the expelled missionaries, but they declined to talk about it.
The López Carazo home for the elderly was founded in 1916, according to local media, and the land where it is built was donated by the family of former president Evaristo Carazo.
Nicaragua is going through a political crisis which on April 18 will be five years old, with no way out in sight.
Ortega has undertaken a persecution against the Catholic Church, according to human rights organizations, and has expelled the Vatican envoy in Nicaragua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommmertag. He is also keeping in jail an important bishop accused of “emitting false news”, among other crimes.
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.
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