Central America in Minutes

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 51: In Honduras, questions about a militarized election deepen. The head of the Joint General Staff wants to run a parallel vote count on November 30. Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office announces its newest investigation into the National Electoral Council.In a new coup effort in Guatemala, an internationally sanctioned judge orders the removal of the president, two-dozen legislators, and a mayor elected with Arévalo’s party. But the Constitutional Court issues a biting rebuke and reverses the order.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Gabriel Labrador, Yuliana Ramazzini, and Roman Gressier. Sound design by Omnionn. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, and iHeart podcast platforms.

Ep. 50, SPECIAL with LATINO USA: Thousands of immigrant children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border during the first Trump administration. And while a court ruled the government should reunite these families, hundreds still remain apart.In this episode, we travel to Guatemala to meet a father who was deported from the U.S. without his 14-year-old son. In theory the families should be able to reunify on U.S. soil. Lawyers and advocates are working tirelessly to track down missing families. But in practice, the new Trump administration is making these reunifications even more complicated.This podcast episode was produced by Latino USA and co-published in partnership with El Faro English.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 49: Guatemala’s former minister of governance, whose office oversees the police and prisons, resigns and leaves the country after the public learns of the escape from prison of twenty 18th Street gang members.In El Salvador, a new Law Against Money Laundering in fact significantly loosens controls. Attorney general Rodolfo Delgado argues compliance officers relied too heavily on press reports in sanctioning individuals accused of money laundering.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Gabriel Labrador and Roman Gressier. Sound design by Omnionn. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, and iHeart podcast platforms.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 48: Crackdown tactics emerging from El Salvador’s Casa Presidencial and the U.S. White House have something in common: the willingness to sow fear and enact cruelty onto a population deemed criminal or expendable.This sixth issue of Central America Monthly focuses on a single question: What is really happening in the world's most publicized prison system? Evidence of barbarism and state crimes emerging from Salvadoran prisons could constitute crimes against humanity.In our podcast today, we present the Letter from the Editor.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 47: Five months before new magistrates are chosen, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of Guatemala has been raided yet again amid arrests, a guilty plea, and accusations of bribery. Next year, the top seats at the TSE, high courts, and other crucial institutions are up for grabs.In Costa Rica, President Rodrigo Chaves skirts an effort by the Legislative Assembly to strip him of his immunity on corruption allegations — and his presidential candidate Laura Fernández says she will shield him from an array of probes with a top cabinet spot if she wins the February 1 election.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Yuliana Ramazzini and Gabriel Labrador and edited by Roman Gressier. Production and soundtrack by Omnionn. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, and iHeart podcast platforms.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 46: Salvadoran-born journalist Mario Guevara is set to be deported today, Friday, after his arrest in June, while covering protests in Georgia against the immigration raids of Trump’s first months. He was the only known journalist detained by ICE on U.S. soil.This special October episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Yuliana Ramazzini and edited by Roman Gressier. Production and soundtrack by Omnionn. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, and iHeart podcast platforms.

Ep. 45, SPECIAL with LATINO USA: She was in labor, fainted, and woke up in handcuffs.In El Salvador, nearly 200 women have been incarcerated in the last 26 years after having obstetric emergencies, like miscarriages and stillbirths. Maria Hinojosa and producer Monica Morales-Garcia travel to the country to speak with women who have been incarcerated under El Salvador's anti-abortion laws, some of the strictest in the world.Through interviews, documents, and archival materials, this investigation paints a clear and disturbing picture of the women who suffer most when a country stretches the definition of abortion beyond its meaning and then bans them all without exception.This podcast episode was produced by Latino USA and co-published in partnership with El Faro English.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 44: On September 8, Temporary Protected Status for Hondurans and Nicaraguans came to an end, leaving more than 50,000 immigrants, who have been in the United States for over two decades, at risk of deportation.The Guatemalan Constitutional Court refused to grant provisional parole to publisher Jose Rubén Zamora, bouncing the decision of whether he will continue in pre-trial detention rather than house arrest back to lower court.Guatemalan outlet No-Ficción reports that the Arévalo administration purchased $10.3 million in military equipment from Israeli companies named by a Trump-sanctioned U.N. special rapporteur as part of an “economy of genocide” in Gaza.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 43: With under three months until election day in Honduras, alarm bells are sounding: lawfare and institutional capture threaten the credibility of the process amid efforts to veto civil society as electoral monitors. The chief campaign finance auditor has no budget.In a country where political violence has stained elections for the better part of two decades, four mayoral candidates have already been assassinated. Parts of the two largest cities remain under a state of exception suspending rights, while the leading parties dabble in early accusations of fraud.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 42: Recent accusations by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi about an “air bridge” for Venezuelan drug traffickers in Guatemala and neighboring countries draws sparring between the Guatemalan president and attorney general over who is really leading interdiction efforts.In Nicaragua, an opposition leader detained for more than a month is announced dead in custody and denied his right to a funeral, in yet another case in recent months of political violence toward prominent critics of the dictatorship.New reporting by El Faro English identifies the first Salvadoran to die in Bukele’s prisons under the state of exception: Walter Sandoval, a man who within three days of his arrest went from a clean bill of health to showing signs of torture in a coroner’s report. His is the first of at least 435 known in-custody deaths.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 41: A former magistrate and security chief was arrested by Costa Rican authorities and the DEA in their first extradition on drug trafficking charges. U.S. authorities also accuse him of informing the Rodrigo Chaves administration in 2023 of his ability to “guarantee the entry of cocaine into the country.”In El Salvador, as Nayib Bukele names an Army captain as minister of education, breaking a decadeslong tradition of civilian power, the Presidency takes command of public hospitals, including the power to compel services from private providers in a sector whose unionists are a motor of protest.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Roman Gressier and Yuliana Ramazzini with production by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon at support.elfaro.net.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 40: In Guatemala, six officials were sentenced to prison for the gruesome 2017 death of 41 girls in a fire in the Hogar Seguro children’s home. Abuses and inhumane conditions leading up to the fire compounded with officials’ apathy to rescue them, stirring indignation in Guatemala over state complicity.The U.S. State Department claimed in its annual report that there were “no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” in El Salvador in 2024, omitting widespread reports of  torture in prisons, political prisoners, and police persecution causing an exodus of human rights defenders, dissidents, and journalists.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Yuliana Ramazzini and Ramiro Guevara. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound production by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 39: El Salvador’s Canal 10 has been transformed into a vehicle for institutional propaganda. Since its relaunch in 2020, the public television channel has been remade from a cultural station into a mouthpiece for President Nayib Bukele — a space without dissent, without opposition, without debate.This extended August episode of Central America in Minutes was produced by Nelson Rauda and Daniel Reyes, and adapted in English by Yuliana Ramazzini. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound design by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 38: A prisoner exchange between the United States, El Salvador, and Venezuela sends 252 men deported by the Trump administration and imprisoned in Salvadoran megaprison CECOT back to Venezuela, in exchange for 10 U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.A new investigation by InSight Crime reports that at least 23 environmentalists were killed in the country between 2023 and 2024. Since 2011, when Pepe Lobo declared Honduras open for business, deforestation and forest fires have increased at an alarming rate due to criminal interests.The Guatemalan Teachers’s Union, headed by internationally sanctioned unionist Joviel Acevedo, camped out across the Central Plaza demanding higher salaries. But they were fined and evicted as President Bernardo Arévalo locked horns with Acevedo, who exiled prosecutors say is protected by the attorney general.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Edward Grattan, Leyrian Colón Santiago, and Yuliana Ramazzini. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound production by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 37: Cristosal, a leading human rights organization in Central America, announces that it is closing operations in El Salvador under threat of political arrest and administrative harassment under a “Russia-style” Foreign Agents Law that dealt a frontal blow to civil society.In Nicaragua, three days before the anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, the regime renames the archive illegally confiscated from Central American University. Meanwhile, Ortega and Murillo completely restructure the national university system to flex their total control over higher education.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Leyrian Colón Santiago, Yuliana Ramazzini, and Victoria Delgado, with additional reporting by Edward Grattan. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound production by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 36: In correspondence with U.N. enforced disappearance investigators, the Salvadoran government claimed the jurisdiction and ultimate fate of the 238 Venezuelans imprisoned in CECOT falls on the U.S. government — even as the Trump administration has claimed the opposite.As the U.S. government cancels TPS deportation protections for Nicaraguans and Hondurans, Daniel Ortega says little in public while quietly receiving a military deportation flight. Xiomara Castro announces she will seek a diplomatic solution with Trump while continuing to avoid direct confrontation.In an interview with El Faro English, Guatemalan sociologist Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj, a founder of Semilla a decade ago, calls the new rupture in President Bernardo Arévalo’s party a sign of “lack of leadership and organic political work.”This episode of Central America in Minutes was written and narrated by Edward Grattan, Leyrian Colón Santiago, and Yuliana Ramazzini, with production by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net. Our mantra at El Faro English is simple: Journalism must go on.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 35: For the first time in decades, a growing number of political exiles are fleeing El Salvador. In Guatemala, the justice system is the spearhead of attacks against those pursuing corruption. Following the murder of a Nicaraguan exile, the U.N. denounces a “high risk of life and physical safety” for dissidents beyond Nicaraguan borders.This special July episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Roman Gressier and Leyrian Colón Santiago and produced by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net. Our mantra at El Faro English is simple: Journalism must go on.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 34: In a regional tour, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced agreements for Guatemala and Honduras to receive third-country asylum claims, and in Panama, to pay for flights to continue deporting migrants, including from Venezuela and Colombia.In Costa Rica, investigators examine whether a Nicaraguan government-backed hit squad is targeting exiles on the heels of the murder of former military officer and opposition member Roberto Samcam.New reporting from El Faro English shows how the Trump administration is seeking to dismiss charges against multiple MS-13 gang leaders and deport them to El Salvador before they can testify about Nayib Bukele’s secret former gang negotiations.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Edward Grattan and  Roman Gressier and produced by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net. Our mantra at El Faro English is simple: Journalism must go on.Help us continue shining a light on Central America by joining our crowdfunding community at support.elfaro.net. Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review. Our mantra at El Faro English is simple: Journalism must go on.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 33: The Panamanian government arrested Secretary General of the Banana Industry Workers Union Fransisco Smith four days after an agreement was announced between union leaders, the National Assembly and President Raúl Mulino to amend social security reforms driving the country into nation-wide protest.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Edward Grattan and Roman Gressier and produced by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net. Our mantra at El Faro English is simple: Journalism must go on.Help us continue shining a light on Central America by joining our crowdfunding community at support.elfaro.net. Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review. Our mantra at El Faro English is simple: Journalism must go on.

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 32: In El Salvador, three top military officers are convicted for the emblematic 1982 murder of four Dutch journalists, marking the first conviction of high-ranking military officials in the country for crimes committed during the civil war.In Honduras, digital outlet Contracorriente reports that the Xiomara Castro administration has launched a media campaign during the electoral season promoting the image of a new supermax facility emulating El Salvador’s CECOT prison.Despite international pressure, Guatemalan Attorney General Consuelo Porras expands charges against two Indigenous leaders of the 2023 mobilizations against an electoral coup. The E.U. sanctions the Foundation Against Terrorism, a close ally in Porras’ lawfare against civil society.This episode of Central America in Minutes was written and narrated by Roman Gressier and Edward Grattan, with production by Omnionn. Help us shine a brighter beacon on Central America at support.elfaro.net. Our mantra at El Faro English is simple: Journalism must go on.