Last week at United Nations headquarters in New York, the Honduran Foreign Minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as the first step toward establishing a Comisión International Contra la Impunidad en Honduras (CICIH) to investigate and prosecute corruption and other crimes by public and private individuals and entities in the country.  President Xiomara Castro traveled to New York to personally oversee the negotiation and signing, which was a strong signal to the Honduran people and the international community of the importance she places on her campaign promise to establish a CICIH.  I commend her for doing so.

Honduras: Following a congressional delegation trip to Honduras in 2021, representatives Cori Bush (MO-01), Ilhan Omar (MN-05),  Jesus “Chuy” García (IL-04), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), and Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (NY-16) introduced a resolution in support 0f the Afro-Indigenous Garífuna people. The Garífuna communities have been been facing violence by the Honduran government and complicit multilateral institutions. These violations against the Garífuna communities were out called by The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights earlier without any severe consequences. The resolution condemns violence against the communities going on for years without any accountability towards the perpetrators, as proven by an incident in July 2020 when four Garífuna men were abducted at gunpoint by men in Honduran security force uniforms. Instead of initiating an investigation into  those responsible, the Honduran attorney general has called for criminal proceedings against leaders of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH).

The new resolution specifically:

• Condemns violence against the Garífuna people and the illegal separation from their legitimate land rights, and calls for the implementation of a 2015 Inter-American Court ruling restoring those land rights;
• Calls for the full participation of an independent commission created by Garífuna communities in the investigation of the four Garífuna men abducted in July 2020;
• Calls for a Special Prosecutor for Enforced Disappearances in Honduras;
• Calls for a review of past projects by multilateral development banks that may have contributed to violating the rights of the Garífuna people, and compliance with human rights law before the approval of projects that affect Garífuna communities; and
• Calls on the U.S. government to engage with the Honduran government and international allies and organizations to promote the rights of Garífuna communities and to advocate for reparations for affected communities.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

The resolution is endorsed by: Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (WfP-SC), Institute for Policy Studies - Global Economy Program , School of the Americas Watch (SOAW), Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), and Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN).

More on the motivations of the congresspeople and NGOs can be found in their statements in the full article, which also includes a link to the full resolution. 

Worldwide the population of female prisoners is rising at immense rates. Since 2000, the number of women in prisons has grown by 60%. The hotspots of this development are Asia and Latin America. Today around 95,000 women are imprisoned in Latin America and the Caribbean countries. The stories of these women are often the same. Born into poor families many only reach low levels of education, leading to un- or underemployment. Often they have suffered from sexual abuse and violence. With a majority of  them being mothers, the pressure to put food on the table is even more pressing, a situation driving them into the low level drug trade.

In 2010, the UN adopted "the Bangkok Rules," a system that promotes non-custodial alternatives like community service, school education, job trainings and house arrest. Since 2014 the National Code of Criminal Procedures has allowed this procedure in Mexico, which has led to a notable reduction of female prisoners between 2014-2019. But more often than not, this comes with a price. The number of pre-trail detention cases has increased, and many choosing this path have to wear an electronic monitoring device. 

Electronic monitoring by itself is a popular alternative to incarceration both in United States and Mexico. But this "alternative" comes with a number of problems. Restrictions like a mandatory permission to leave the house and the need to recharge the ankle mounted device twice a day makes it next to impossible to hold a job and leads to heavy dependence on relatives or other supporters. In the eyes of advocates, electronic monitoring is not an alternative to incarceration but a reproduction of many aspects of incarceration in a person's home. In the city of Los Angeles, electronic monitoring, as a condition of pre-trial release has increased by 5,250% between 2015 and 2021. With most of the affected still awaiting their trail, the system violates the "innocent until proven guilty" law. Furthermore, electronic monitoring comes with a financial aspect. In the United States the costs of confinement are transferred to the individual, leading to a price check of $2,800 - $5,000 per year. Even though in Mexico costs are officially covered by the government, private companies providing the devices charge a fee of $250-$300 monthly--an extreme high amount in a country with a minimum wage of $180 a month. But financial issues are just one side of the problem. Especially in Mexico the need of electricity and a mobile signal often means that the person has to move into a different area; this is a difficult task for jobless and stigmatized individuals. In the worst case this can mean that women are forced to move in or stay with violent and abusive partners. Adding to all the social and financial difficulties are health issues like dry skin and deformation of the ankle.    

Please call your Senators today to demand an end to U.S. military aid to Guatemala and Central America! The peoples of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are increasingly experiencing violations of their rights at the hands of the state. All three governments receive millions of dollars annually in police and military training and equipment from the United States in the name of fighting the U.S. War on Drugs and the (unofficial) U.S. War on Migrants.

As El Salvador sinks into violence and authoritarianism, another country takes a comparable, straight edge "anti-crime" approach. 

On November 24, the Honduran government announced a plan for the temporary suspension of constitutional rights and a deployment of security forces in two crime rigged cities. Besides the capital Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula will be implementing the approach. Honduras has been struggling with a rise of extortion, leading to fear among the population and a mass closure of small to medium sized businesses. 

Human rights activists who have been criticizing the rise of authoritarianism in Central America are warning to ensure the upholding of human rights. Honduras has a history of violence by security forces and a lack of accountability. Nevertheless, many civilians are welcoming the measure. Though the approach is often compared to El Salvador's extreme militarization and totalitarianism, experts doubt that the measures will have a comparable impact. They believe that widespread human rights violations could endanger the internal peace within the center-left coalition governing the country. Furthermore, the comparison lacks validity since El Salvador,  with its massive military and police force as well as its enormous prison capacity, is far more militarized than Honduras. Another impactful difference between the two countries is the takeover of the judicial branch by the Salvadoran government, enabling it to prosecute without hearings. 

Still, the fear of unhinging authoritarianism is a strong indication of danger. Many are speculating the iron fist approach could overshadow the government's plan of legal reforms like resource upgrades aiming to dismantle gang leaders and cracking down on money laundering, which is believed to have a long term impact.

As the deployment of special forces proceeds, it is likely to be implemented in more cities as well. 

A Nevada-based mining firm is suing Guatemala for more than $400 million, the first suit of its kind for the impoverished Central American country. 

The lawsuit which began on June 22 with the consultation process was filed at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a branch of the World Bank, and is based on CAFTA (Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement with the US). It allows transnational corporations to sue for alleged losses of investment. In the recent lawsuit, the Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) mining firm claims that the Guatemalan government has not done enough to protect their investment. A dubious claim seeing how the police oppresses indigenous anti-mining protests. KCA's gold mine, which has been the sight of constant protest, was only in operation for two years, until the courts suspended the project in late 2015 over failure to adequately consult with the habitants of the La Puya area. Furthermore, the mine was the cause of massive environmental damages leading to health issues within the population. Individuals with courage to speak out against the operation were met with threats, violence, persecution and police repression. 

In their defense against KCA's lawsuit, the Guatemalan government brings forward information gathered by activists located in La Puya while ignoring the the interests of the communities. The KCA case also sheds light on corruption within Guatemala's former government as Daniel Kapps was meeting with the Director General of Mining Selvyn Morales in 2011 in an effort to seek a building permit. Shortly after this meeting Morales left his position in the government to work for a mining services company, which KCA immediately hired. Guatemala's government argues that KCA violated environmental norms and failed to obtain its construction license to build its mine, thus not having a right to be reimbursed for their losses. 

Indigenous communities criticize that the Guatemalan government argues on the claims and findings of activists while disregarding the needs and interests of the habitants.  

In El Salvador 10,000 military troops have surrounded the city Soyapango, one of El Salvador's biggest cities with 290,000 inhabitants. 

The recent surrounding is part of the ongoing gang crackdown under the state of emergency, which was initiated in late March and has seen 58,000 imprisoned. A mind boggling number considering that El Salvador's total population is just 6.5 million. The government has stated that all roads to the city have been blocked and special forces are searching homes in the effort to "extract" gang members. President Bukele has claimed that ordinary people "have nothing to fear" as it is "an operation against criminals, not honest citizens." Activists fear that the operation may lead to mass imprisonment, though polls show, that 75.9% of Salvadorans support the state of emergency. So far 12 individuals have been arrested as part of the crackdown on Soyapango.  

Wednesday November 30 marked one of the most important days for journalism and freedom of press in recent years. 

After several members of the Salvadoran investigative news outlet El Faro found proof of the Israeli spyware Pegasus on their smartphones, El Faro takes on Pegasuses developers head on and goes to court. "We are filing this lawsuit to defend our right to investigate and report, and to protect journalists around the world in their pursuit of the truth," the co-founder of El Faro, Carlos Dada, stated. It is not the first Pegasus attack in El Salvador. Dozens of activists and journalists have been targeted so far. 

The spyware developing company behind Pegasus, the NSO Group which has been blacklisted by the United States, has stated that it has no ties with the Salvadoran government. They say they only sell their system to legitimate law enforcement and intelligence in foreign countries and that it does not operate the system, thus has no oversight over the users. Furthermore, NSO stated that the use against activists and journalists "is a severe misuse of any technology and goes against the desired use of such critical tools." The attack gets even more upsetting by the fact that Pegasus is marked as a military export by the Israeli state, which has to approve any sales of the spyware. Israel's government has been criticized for the sale of the system to countries violating human rights before. 

The recent lawsuit against the NSO Group in a U.S. court claims that NSO violated US law by developing and using spyware against El Faro.