Caribbean & Central America - February 2023

In December, the US-based press freedom group Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) warned that 2022 was the most violent year for the press in Latin America and the Caribbean for the last two decades.... Read More

In December, the US-based press freedom group Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) warned that 2022 was the most violent year for the press in Latin America and Caribbean for the last two decades – a situation which it says is “especially critical” in El Salvador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Guatemala, citing the resurgence of “caudillista [strongman] political regimes”.... Read More

In early January, the interim director general of Costa Rica’s judicial investigation agency (OIJ), Randall Zúñiga, confirmed that a record 656 homicides were registered in the country in 2022.... Read More

In early January the local civil-society group Cristosal flagged up concerns regarding the excessive use of force by security officials in El Salvador’s Soyapango municipality, San Salvador department – a stronghold of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), one of the country’s two main gangs (Barrio 18 being the other).... Read More

Wrangling over the future of the huge Cobre Panamá copper mine continues as the government led by President Laurentino Cortizo and Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals (FQM) struggle to agree on the terms of a new contract.... Read More

On 13 January Honduras’ congress approved a L392.52bn (US$16bn) state budget for 2023, up 8.9 % compared to 2022, with various budget items prompting criticisms from civil society organisations like Asociación para una Sociedad Más Justa (ASJ), the local chapter of anti-corruption NGO Transparency International, and think tank Foro Social de la Deuda Externa de Honduras (Fosdeh).... Read More

A major factor in Haiti’s current multifaceted crisis is the role of the country’s gangs which have exploited the power vacuum left by the July 2021 murder of former president Jovenel Moïse (2017-2021).... Read More

The Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) under Prime Minister Gaston Browne won a slim 9-8 victory in the 18 January general election, losing six of its seats in the 17-seat House of Representatives.... Read More

In January the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) announced that the World Bank (WB) had provided US$40m to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Regional Health Project to improve health facilities and laboratory capacities, strengthen public health systems and emergency management, institutional capacity building, project management and coordination, and contingency emergency response.... Read More

If you are a small Caribbean Island jurisdiction which is heavily reliant on tourism, the arrival of a multi-billion dollar crypto exchange, bringing in new revenues and firing up the local tech start-up community sounds like it has to be a good thing.... Read More

Trinidad and Tobago has brokered a major liquid natural gas (LNG) deal with two long-standing regional rivals, Venezuela and the US, which will also benefit Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.... Read More

NICARAGUA | IMF highlights strong reserves.... Read More