Central America in Minutes

Ep. 45, SPECIAL with LATINO USA: She was in labor, fainted, and woke up in handcuffs.

In El Salvador, nearly 200 women have been incarcerated in the last 26 years after having obstetric emergencies, like miscarriages and stillbirths. Maria Hinojosa and producer Monica Morales-Garcia travel to the country to speak with women who have been incarcerated under El Salvador's anti-abortion laws, some of the strictest in the world.

Thro...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 44: On September 8, Temporary Protected Status for Hondurans and Nicaraguans came to an end, leaving more than 50,000 immigrants, who have been in the United States for over two decades, at risk of deportation.

The Guatemalan Constitutional Court refused to grant provisional parole to publisher Jose Rubén Zamora, bouncing the decision of whether he will continue in pre-trial detention rather than hous...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 43: With under three months until election day in Honduras, alarm bells are sounding: lawfare and institutional capture threaten the credibility of the process amid efforts to veto civil society as electoral monitors. The chief campaign finance auditor has no budget.

In a country where political violence has stained elections for the better part of two decades, four mayoral candidates have already bee...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 42: Recent accusations by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi about an “air bridge” for Venezuelan drug traffickers in Guatemala and neighboring countries draws sparring between the Guatemalan president and attorney general over who is really leading interdiction efforts.

In Nicaragua, an opposition leader detained for more than a month is announced dead in custody and denied his right to a funeral, in...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 41: A former magistrate and security chief was arrested by Costa Rican authorities and the DEA in their first extradition on drug trafficking charges. U.S. authorities also accuse him of informing the Rodrigo Chaves administration in 2023 of his ability to “guarantee the entry of cocaine into the country.”

In El Salvador, as Nayib Bukele names an Army captain as minister of education, breaking a decad...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 40: In Guatemala, six officials were sentenced to prison for the gruesome 2017 death of 41 girls in a fire in the Hogar Seguro children’s home. Abuses and inhumane conditions leading up to the fire compounded with officials’ apathy to rescue them, stirring indignation in Guatemala over state complicity.

The U.S. State Department claimed in its annual report that there were “no credible reports of sign...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 39: El Salvador’s Canal 10 has been transformed into a vehicle for institutional propaganda. Since its relaunch in 2020, the public television channel has been remade from a cultural station into a mouthpiece for President Nayib Bukele — a space without dissent, without opposition, without debate.

This extended August episode of Central America in Minutes was produced by Nelson Rauda and Daniel Reyes,...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 38: A prisoner exchange between the United States, El Salvador, and Venezuela sends 252 men deported by the Trump administration and imprisoned in Salvadoran megaprison CECOT back to Venezuela, in exchange for 10 U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.

A new investigation by InSight Crime reports that at least 23 environmentalists were killed in the country between 2023 and 2024. Since 2011, when Pepe Lo...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 37: Cristosal, a leading human rights organization in Central America, announces that it is closing operations in El Salvador under threat of political arrest and administrative harassment under a “Russia-style” Foreign Agents Law that dealt a frontal blow to civil society.

In Nicaragua, three days before the anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, the regime renames the archive illegally confiscate...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 36: In correspondence with U.N. enforced disappearance investigators, the Salvadoran government claimed the jurisdiction and ultimate fate of the 238 Venezuelans imprisoned in CECOT falls on the U.S. government — even as the Trump administration has claimed the opposite.

As the U.S. government cancels TPS deportation protections for Nicaraguans and Hondurans, Daniel Ortega says little in public while ...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 35: For the first time in decades, a growing number of political exiles are fleeing El Salvador. In Guatemala, the justice system is the spearhead of attacks against those pursuing corruption. Following the murder of a Nicaraguan exile, the U.N. denounces a “high risk of life and physical safety” for dissidents beyond Nicaraguan borders.

This special July episode of Central America in Minutes was writ...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 34: In a regional tour, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced agreements for Guatemala and Honduras to receive third-country asylum claims, and in Panama, to pay for flights to continue deporting migrants, including from Venezuela and Colombia.

In Costa Rica, investigators examine whether a Nicaraguan government-backed hit squad is targeting exiles on the heels of the murder of former military officer a...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 33: The Panamanian government arrested Secretary General of the Banana Industry Workers Union Fransisco Smith four days after an agreement was announced between union leaders, the National Assembly and President Raúl Mulino to amend social security reforms driving the country into nation-wide protest.

This episode of Central America in Minutes was written by Edward Grattan and Roman Gressier and produ...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 32: In El Salvador, three top military officers are convicted for the emblematic 1982 murder of four Dutch journalists, marking the first conviction of high-ranking military officials in the country for crimes committed during the civil war.

In Honduras, digital outlet Contracorriente reports that the Xiomara Castro administration has launched a media campaign during the electoral season promoting the...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 31: Rosario Murillo holds the reins in Nicaragua. By their own decree, she and Daniel Ortega are now “co-presidents” ruling without the separation of powers, not even on paper. Three moments help explain Murillo’s rise — but just how durable is her newfound power?

This special June episode of Central America in Minutes was written and narrated by Roman Gressier with audio production and origina...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 30: In Costa Rica, evidence collected by the press and prosecutors of Rodrigo Chaves rigging a public-relations contract leads the Supreme Court to discuss the possible removal of his immunity — an unprecedented corruption probe against a sitting president.

In Honduras, President Xiomara Castro will be interim defense minister after ruling-party presidential candidate Rixi Moncada leaves for the campa...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 29: The attorneys general of El Salvador and Guatemala meet and agree to increase cooperation, in the most public show of support from the Bukele regime for Consuelo Porras. Weeks after Guatemalan prosecutors threatened to launch an investigation into USAID funding to independent media, the Salvadoran legislature approves a Foreign Agents Law to choke off international aid to critical civil society g...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 28: In El Salvador, Nayib Bukele sends the Military Police to disperse families in front of his personal residence, as they pleaded not to be evicted from their homes. As the regime arrests another lawyer accompanying families threatened by displacement, Bukele claims international interference against his government, reactivating a 2021 plan to place high taxes on donations to civil society organiza...

CENTRAL AMERICA IN MINUTES, Ep. 27: Even if Jose Rubén Zamora, who is 68 years old, successfully defends himself at retrial in the original case against him, he looks set to face years of legal challenges as the hydra of spurious accusations against Guatemala’s former top publisher continues to grow.

On April 21, the Bernardo Arévalo administration said they are finishing chalking up a journalist-protection policy for the Executive ...