Puerto Quetzal concession: President Pérez Molina is facing resistance over a usufruct agreement, announced on 27 March, over the Puerto Quetzal (EPQ), Guatemala's largest Pacific Ocean port, with container terminal operator, Terminal de Contenedores Quetzal (TCQ), a subsidiary of Spain’s Terminal de Contenedores de Barcelona (TCB). Two of the port’s unions, Sindicato de Trabajadores de Empresa Portuaria Quetzal (STEPQ) and Sindicato de Trabajadores Organizados de la Portuaria Quetzal (STOPQ), have said that they will appeal the move before the constitutional court on the grounds that it could be damaging to the State and signifies an attempt to privatise the port.…

Recent damning statistics regarding the performance of Guatemalan students along with the ongoing threat of teachers’ unrest over an education reform are upping on the pressure on the Partido Patriota (PP) government of President Otto Pérez Molina to address the continued crisis in the education sector. On 1 April, the General Directorate for Evaluation, Research and Educational Standards (Digeduca), which sits under the education ministry (Mineduc), released figures which reveal that, of 137,466 secondary school students examined in 2012, 92.7% failed basic mathematics tests and 75.53% fell short of basic reading standards. The need to address education, one of the…

Resuming FTA talks with Colombia: Between 11-15 March, the sixth round of negotiations regarding a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Colombia and Panama took place in the Colombian city of Medellín. This followed the 23 February announcement by Panama’s trade minister, Ricardo Quijano, that the talks which had been suspended in October 2010 would resume. According to Colombia’s trade ministry, exports to Panama grew by 32.3% in 2012 to a value of US$2.86bn, 87% of which corresponded to oil, coal and other mining products. Meanwhile imports from Panama reached US$71.6m, mainly comprising machinery and equipment (54.4%) and basic chemicals…

With the campaign ahead of the 2014 general elections by all intents and purposes under way, President Ricardo Martinelli is struggling with a pledge that was key to his own electoral victory in 2009: the promise to end the public transport chaos, particularly in the capital, Panama City. On 5 April Panama City mayor and a member of Martinelli’s Cambio Democrático (CD), Roxana Méndez, announced an emergency plan, which included the provision of 50 buses initially for a ten-day period, to deal with the transport chaos in the capital. These problems have intensified since 15 March as a result of…

Inflation & unemployment: The index of consumer prices was 5.6% year-on-year in March and 2.1% on an accumulated basis in the first quarter. The official rate of urban area unemployment was 5.6% in 2012, an improvement on the 2011 figure of 6.8% in 2011. However that masks severe underemployment. The total number of unemployed Honduras is 1.8m, up from 1.1m when the current government took office in January 2010. BG Group deal: On 9 April, environment & natural resources minister, Rigoberto Cuellar, announced the preliminary approval of a 10-year oil and gas contract with British Gas (BG) Group. The exploration…

With the violence in Honduras remaining at endemic levels, the executive and congress are anxious to be seen to be doing something ahead of the scheduled November general election. Security Minister Pompeyo Bonilla will be replaced as of 1 May by Foreign Minister, Arturo Corrales, the presidential secretary Reinaldo Sánchez announced on 15 April. The ministerial changes coincide with moves by the unicameral national congress, controlled by President Porfirio Lobo’s ruling Partido Nacional (PN), to remove the attorney general, Luis Rubí, and the head of the new police purification directorate (DIECP), Eduardo Villanueva, for “deficiency” in their roles. The president…

 Ructions with private sector over new telecoms decree: Nicaragua’s two largest private sector lobbies, the Consejo Superior de la Empresa privada (Cosep) and Cámara de Comercio Americana de Nicaragua (Amcham) are at loggerheads with the Ortega government over an administrative order issued by the telecoms regulatory institute (Telcor) stipulating that private telecommunications companies require Telcor’s approval for appointments ranging from managers and directors to security personnel. All telecoms companies have 30 days to comply with the fiat, which was published in the national gazette on 22 March. Orlando Castillo, the executive president of Telcor, claims the order is necessary to…

A new Russian-built training centre for anti-drugs officials, recent joint drug seizures and the prospect of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). These are the latest signs of strengthening ties between Russia and Nicaragua in the key areas of security and trade. This cooperation, which has gathered pace since the ruling Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) government of President Daniel Ortega took office for a second time in 2007, was reaffirmed during a series of inter-governmental meetings held in Moscow in late January between high level representatives from both countries. On 6 April Colonel Orlando Palacios, Nicaragua’s army director…

The IMF is warning El Salvador that it needs to start a national dialogue process before elections in 2014 so that macroeconomic stability is not put at risk. The IMF conducted an Article IV consultation in March when it concluded that real GDP would grow at just 1.5% in 2013-14, the fiscal deficit will remain unchanged in 2013 and beyond, and the debt-to-GDP ratio will increase further. The IMF highlighted that “the authorities noted that the strengthening of macroeconomic policies will become challenging with the approach of a prolonged period of presidential and congressional elections and in an environment of…

One year ago there were 14 homicides per day in El Salvador; now there are just five per day. “We have found a solution to diminish violence which is unorthodox but which has brought us very good results,” the justice and public security minister, David Munguía Payés, told the permanent council of the Organization of American States (OAS) this month. That unorthodox solution is the gang truce signed between the country’s two main mara gangs - MS-13 and Barrio 18 – and smaller gangs in March 2012. There was considerable scepticism one year ago when the truce was signed about…