Central America in Minutes

Episode 96: Salvadoran troops operate outside the mandate of the U.N. Gang Suppression Force in Haiti. Nayib Bukele coordinates directly with the Haitian government.Dismissals and resignations roil the Costa Rican government as the country pulls out from talks to join the free-trade agreement TPP-11.El Niño deepens a crisis of poverty and food insecurity across Central America’s Dry Corridor. In some countries, damage caused by drought is more severe than expected.This episode was written by Leyrian Colón Santiago, Yuliana Ramazzini, and  Gabriel Labrador. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound design by Omnionn.Listen to Central America in Minutes on the KPFA Pacifica Evening News and participating Pacifica radio stations. Or stream it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, and YouTube.

Episode 95: Bukele deploys over 2,000 troops to Haiti to rescue missing aviation technicians. El Salvador and Guatemala joined the U.N.-backed security mission in Haiti last year.Two migrant caravans depart Honduras in less than a month. U.S.-Mexico border apprehensions are at “historic lows” while annual deportations exceed the past two administrations.Days after the murder of a former Guatemalan antimafia prosecutor, the Interior Ministry sacks the police chief amid a probe into wrongful arrests in the case.This episode was written by Leyrian Colón Santiago, Yuliana Ramazzini, and  Gabriel Labrador. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound design by Omnionn.Listen to Central America in Minutes on the KPFA Pacifica Evening News and participating Pacifica radio stations. Or stream it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, and YouTube.

Episode 94: After the assassination of former antimafia prosecutor Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa, Guatemalan police are accused of planting a weapon on two former suspects.With anti-drug trafficking cooperation front and center, the United States sends hundreds of soldiers to conduct training with forces in Panama, Honduras, and Colombia.Costa Rican President Laura Fernández opens a maximum-security prison drawing from technical plans shared by the Nayib Bukele government in El Salvador.This episode was written by Roman Gressier, Leyrian Colón Santiago, and Gabriel Labrador. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound design by Omnionn.Listen to Central America in Minutes on the KPFA Pacifica Evening News and participating Pacifica radio stations. Or stream it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, and YouTube.

Episode 93: In El Salvador, Nayib Bukele says the government is willing to conditionally release half of all alleged gang collaborators under the state of exception.In Panama, a week after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, the government reports that over 2,500 people remain in shelters and more than 10,000 people have been affected.For more than a decade, Central Americans living in coastal areas have watched —and fled— as parts of their mangrove forests and communities have been devoured by rising tides.This episode was written by Gabriel Labrador, Leyrian Colón Santiago, and Carlos Barrera. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound design by Omnionn.Listen to Central America in Minutes on the KPFA Pacifica Evening News and participating Pacifica radio stations. Or stream it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, and YouTube.

Episode 92: Weeks before the midterms, Senate Democrats press Trump’s nominee for ambassador to El Salvador on human rights. Nicaragua refuses to accept the new confirmed U.S. ambassador.A Guatemalan journalist is murdered in the western highlands close to Mexico. His murder adds to the list of 32 journalist deaths recorded in the past thirteen years.A document obtained by El Faro shows Costa Rica closed a probe into the murder of a Nicaraguan exile. A trial against the alleged perpetrators is expected in the coming months.This episode was written by Leyrian Colón Santiago, Yuliana Ramazzini, and Gabriel Labrador. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound design by Omnionn.Listen to Central America in Minutes on the KPFA Pacifica Evening News and participating Pacifica radio stations. Or stream it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, and YouTube.