Caribbean & Central America - May 2023

Honduras’s defence ministry recently announced that in the first quarter of 2023 over 1.8m coca plants were seized and seven drug processing laboratories destroyed.... Read More

Honduras’s defence ministry (Sedena) recently announced that in the first quarter of 2023 over 1.8m coca plants were seized in Honduras, spanning 147.8 hectares (ha), and seven drug processing laboratories had been destroyed.... Read More

At the end of March, the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Corte-IDH) held hearings on the case of a young woman known only as ‘Beatriz’, who was denied an abortion in 2013 by El Salvador despite her high-risk pregnancy.... Read More

The dubious exclusion from the 25 June general elections of Thelma Cabrera, an indigenous presidential candidate for the Movimiento para la Liberación de los Pueblos (MLP), who enjoyed the backing of leading indigenous group Comité de Desarrollo Campesino (Codeca), underlines the marginalisation of Guatemala’s indigenous sector which accounts for nearly 44% of the country’s population – the highest proportion in Central America.... Read More

Nicaragua has been bolstering relations with Russia and China as the US has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions, citing ongoing human rights abuses taking place under the government led by President Daniel Ortega.... Read More

Two recent studies call for more investment in the health sector in Central American countries in order to boost social and economic development.... Read More

In its April Fiscal Monitor, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested that general gross debt in emerging markets and middle-income economies in the Caribbean region would decrease by around 1.1% in 2023, however it warned that pressures could build up again by 2024.... Read More

After a violent invasion of Suriname’s legislature last February by anti-government protesters, and a coronavirus (Covid-29) related squeeze on living standards, Suriname’s government led by President Chandrikapersad Santokhi is hoping that a debt restructuring deal with bondholders will earn the country some breathing space.... Read More

At a meeting with Caribbean Community (Caricom) foreign ministers in Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, last month, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that his government was prepared to offer project grants of up to US$1m a time for Caribbean small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).... Read More

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) said on 20 April that the Dominican Republic will be the fourth-fastest growing economy in the region this year.... Read More

*** PLEDGES ON CRIME.... Read More

CUBA | Cuba claims tourism recovery.... Read More