Migration
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TPS: An appeals court will allow the Trump administration to
end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for nearly 300,000 migrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan.
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Chad Wolf: Federal judge ruled that Chad Wolf is likely to
be unlawfully appointed as acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, so enforcement of new asylum restrictions have been temporarily barred.
Belize
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Equal Opportunities Bill: The Equal Opportunities Bill —aimed at protecting members of marginalized groups from discrimination, including members of the LGBT community—
was ultimately pulled out by the Government
due to controversy among religious groups. According to these groups, the bill introduced “never seen before” terms of legislation such as “gender identity” and “gender mainstreaming”.
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Climate Change Initiative: Belize, along with three other countries, will receive funding from the Commonwealth Secretariat to aid the formation and implementation of
climate action projects.
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Remembering George Price: This Saturday marked the 9th anniversary of George Price’s death, the first Prime Minister of independent Belize and honored as the “
Father of the Nation.”
Costa Rica
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Economy: The Costa Rican government proposed privatizations,
tax increases, and additional austerity measures to present to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of negotiations to secure a $1.75 billion dollar loan to offset the economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Drug Transit: A memorandum signed by U.S. President Donald Trump identified Costa Rica amongst other countries as one of the countries with the
highest transit of drugs and places it next to the South American countries that are the main producers of cocaine.
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Unemployment Rate: Unemployment rate in Costa Rica is
higher among women who have at least one child (63.4%), according to a survey from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC).
El Salvador
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Corruption: A
report by IBI Consultants establishes
links between the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, with the main leader of the FMLN, José Luis Merino; PDVSA and the company created by Hugo Chávez Alba Petróleos.
The Bukele administration denies ties with Jose Luis Merino, the former guerrilla commander who founded Alba Petroleos with the late ex-president Hugo Chávez. This company was 60% owned by PDV Caribe, a subsidiary PDVSA, and 40% of the FMLN.
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Refuge: The United Nations Organization for Refugees is opening
an operational headquarters in El Salvador to assist refugees, asylum seekers and victims of internal displacement.
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Economic Contraction: A data analyst says the country may be going through its
strongest period of economic contraction in 40 years. The clothing and textiles industry were among the hardest hit sectors of the economy.
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Police Brutality: Indigenous groups
allege police brutality at a peaceful protest against construction of a market in Cuisnahuat.
Guatemala
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Ixil Genocide: 14 female survivors of the Ixil Genocide provided a detailed account of their
experiences which will serve as testimony against Luis Enrique Mendoza García. Mendoza García is a retired military officer charged with the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity while serving as chief of army operations in the government of José Efraín Ríos Montt in 1982.
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Justice: A Prosecutor Office and the police
captured an assistant prosecutor of the Public Ministry, Sergio Baltazar Valenzuela, along with police officers. They are accused of being involved in criminal activities such as murder and theft.
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Human Rights: International organizations sent a letter to President Giammattei reminding him of the obligation Guatemala has
regarding the verdict from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of 2014 for the case “Defender of Human Rights and Others vs. Guatemala ”. Guatemala is ordered to produce a Public Policy for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.
Honduras
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Elections: The National Electoral Council called for
primary elections on March 14, 2021, during which political parties will vote for their frontrunners for the general elections in November. The political opposition denounced irregularities in the new electoral census and faces the possibility of an alliance with
controversial figure (Yani Rosenthal) as presidential candidate.
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COVID-19: The number of
positive patients for COVID-19 increased. The beginning of an outbreak is starting to show due to the reopening of the economy, said Dr. Carlos Umaña.
Nicaragua
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Life imprisonment: In his speech for independence day, President Ortega
suggested to re-establish
life imprisonment for hate crimes. Human rights organizations and journalists saw in this a direct threat to political opponents as “hate crimes” are not sufficiently defined. // Vice President Murillo
equated feminist movements to criminals who commit femicides for promoting abortion rights.
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Press Freedom: Regime intensifies
harassment against journalists in the southern Caribbean region, according to Fundación V. de Chamorro. // Channel 12 workers asked the population to support them by leaving messages on social networks with the hashtag
#NosResistimosAlEmbargo (“We resist the embargo”). Channel 12 was seized by the tax office for an alleged 2011 tax debt.
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Misquito Cays: Industrial boats
steal lobsters from indigenous people in Misquito Cays, community leaders claim. These boats are owned by businessmen from Bluefields, the main city of the southern Caribbean in Nicaragua.
Panama
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Drug Trafficking: Governor
Erick Iván Martelo Robinson of the PRD party was arrested along with his driver for transporting 79 kilos of cocaine in Pacora province. Martelo was immediately removed from his post as governor of Guna Yala by President Laurentino Cortizo.
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Family Businesses: National Secretariat for Disability delivers seed capital for the
Fami-Empresas program in the central province of Veraguas to guide, train, and promote the creation of small family businesses.