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After burning down the FSLN party headquarters and raiding the city's social security building, priests in Nicaragua are now having to face empty churches and masses as Nicaraguan Catholics are protesting their political actions. Although the U.S. was funding the attempted ousting of Nicaragua’s democratically elected Sandinista government, the Catholic Church hierarchy in Nicaragua was instigating it. And while the Bishop’s conference was ostensibly “mediating” a national dialogue, its own priests were calling for violence.

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“Although they are legally authorized to work, temporary migrant workers are among the most exploited laborers in the US workforce because employer control of their visa status leaves many powerless to defend and uphold their rights,” according to a February report from the Economic Policy Institute. The H-2A visa program creates a severe power imbalance. The system almost always ties workers to their specific employer, which means that a worker’s legal status to work depends on maintaining the job they were contracted to do. As such, workers are hesitant to speak out about deplorable working conditions due to fears of losing their legal status and facing deportation.
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The United States accused El Salvador’s government of negotiating a secret pact with leaders of MS-13 and another gang under which the armed groups would cut back on bloody street killings and support the president’s party in midterm elections. The accusation, denied by El Salvador, was a new jolt to the rapidly deteriorating relationship between Washington and a longtime ally. The US Treasury Department announced that it was imposing sanctions on two Salvadoran officials for their roles in the alleged gang negotiations: Osiris Luna Meza, the vice minister of justice and director of the prison system, and Carlos Amilcar Marroquín, head of a major social welfare agency. José Miguel Cruz, a specialist in Salvadoran security issues, said the imposition of U.S. sanctions brought the allegations to a new level.

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