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.