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☆ Murders, imprisonment and violence: Threats to press freedom grow in Latin America
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Esteban Campanela | Sol Amaya | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

These are just the tip of the iceberg of the challenges faced by many media workers in Latin America, where experts say the status of press freedom is increasingly worrisome. The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed in a press conference that they believed the crime was linked to his journalistic work. Last week, the Mexican president criticized the US State Department’s report on human rights in the world, which refers to concerns over press freedom in Mexico, saying that US authorities should “be respectful”. In a publication in social network X, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said US officials are not concerned about the human rights of Cubans and that the United States has its own human rights violations. Nicaragua: Ortega-Murillo regime targets journalismHarassment of the press in Nicaragua has been widely reported on numerous occasions.

Persons: CNNE, Francisco Cobos, ”, Cobos, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, López Obrador, Enrique Peña Nieto, Felipe Calderón, Lourdes Maldonado López, Maldonado López, Séptimo Día, Roberto Figueroa, Xochitl Zamora, Lourdes Maldonado, Maldonado ´, Marco Ugarte, AP López Obrador, Andres Oppenheimer, Javier Milei, Lopez Obrador, Abraham Jimenez, Jimenez, civically, “, Miguel Diaz, Yamil Lage, Jiménez, Bruno Rodríguez, Ortega, Murillo, Juan Lorenzo Hollman Chamorro, Hollman Chamorro, Chamorro, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, Rosario Murillo, … provocateurs, Chávez, Vos, Chavez, ” Edgar López, López, Juan Pablo Lares, Maximiliano Bruzual, Ariana Cubillos, Nicolas, Maduro’s, Yván Gil, ” Jeannine Cruz, Gustavo Petro, Nayib Bukele, Gonzalo Zegarra, Rey Rodríguez, Manuela Castro, Ana María Cañizares, Ivonne, José Álvarez, Elvin Sandoval, Iván, Sarmenti, Español Organizations: CNN, Amnesty International, Protect Journalists, Univision, Televisa, Prosecutor’s, AP, CIA, Canel, Getty, Cuban Foreign, La Prensa, National Police, ”, El, Regional, Democracy, Nicaraguan, State Department, National College of Journalists, Venezuelan, TC Television, Communication, “ Locations: Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Latin America, Mexican, American, Tamaulipas, McAllen , Texas, Tijuana, Morelos, Tijuana , Mexico, Spain, Cuban, Havana, AFP, United States, Costa Rica, El Confidencial, Managua, NIcaragua, Sur, Washington, Venezuelan, “, Caracas, ”, Ecuador, Guayaquil, America, Argentina, Colombian

☆ Mexico ICJ hearing: Ecuador showdown over embassy raid begins Tuesday
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Tara John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A showdown between Mexico and Ecuador begins on Tuesday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the culmination of weeks of recrimination over an incident that saw Ecuadorian forces raid Mexico’s embassy in Quito in April, to arrest a former vice president who had been seeking asylum. Mexico is suing Ecuador at the world court over the armed raid, saying it violated the Vienna Convention, a United Nations treaty on diplomatic relations. The incident drew widespread international condemnation, but Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa remains unrepentant, telling CNN affiliate SBS news that he does not regret how Glas was arrested. Meanwhile, Ecuador filed a lawsuit of its own at the ICJ against Mexico over its decision to grant asylum to Glas. The diplomatic spat has seen a host of Latin American leaders across the political spectrum rally around Mexico, and several nations sever ties with Ecuador.

Persons: Jorge Glas, Ecuador’s, Daniel Noboa, Glas, Mexico’s, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Julian Assange, Alicia Barcena, Noboa, –, El, Bukele, Rafael Correa, Correa, CNN’s Abel Alvarado Organizations: CNN, International Court of Justice, Vienna Convention, United, UN, SBS, ICJ, Mexico, Ecuadorian Embassy, Mexican, SBS News, National Assembly Locations: Mexico, Ecuador, Quito, Vienna, United Nations, Mexican, Glas, Ecuador’s, London, Latin America

☆ Why a Brazilian UFC star is championing a dead Austrian economist
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( David Shortell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

In recent years, the free-market economist and the contrarian Austrian school he led midcentury have been turned into a hashtag deployed by tax-wary workers. Ludwig von Mises From Mises Institute“Ludwig von Mises is Latin America’s leading economist,” declared the headline of a Bloomberg opinion piece earlier this month by economist Tyler Cowen. His free-market policy prescriptions, framed by an economic thinking centered on human behavior and individual choice, were widely considered out of fashion at the time. “That is my jam!” Shapiro said of the Austrian school. “If you start to understand the concept of the Austrian economic school,” Moicano said in a recent YouTube video, “you’re going to understand that’s what I need: free market, liberties, and wealth, my brother.

Persons: Renato Moicano, “, Ludwig von Mises, ” Moicano, Mises, midcentury, influencers, “ Ludwig von Mises, ”, Tyler Cowen, Marx, Camila Rocha, Moicano, Jair Bolsonaro, Javier Milei, Fabrice Coffrini, Milei, “ Milei, Daniel Raisbeck, Raisbeck, Milton Friedman, ” Mises, El, Nayib Bukele, Amanda Andrade, Rhoades, Rocha, Ben Shapiro, ” Shapiro, It’s, “ you’re Organizations: CNN — Brazilian UFC, Austrian, Mises, “, Bloomberg, New York University, Brazilian Center of Analysis, UFC, Economic, Cato Institute, Argentina national, Salvador, Conservative Political, Conference, Mises Institute, Mises Institutes, Fox Business, YouTube Locations: Austrian, United States, South, Central America, American, El Salvador, Argentina, Brazil, Davos, AFP, Milei, Buenos Aires, Mises, National Harbor , Maryland, Washington, Latin America

☆ Ecuador’s raid on Mexico’s embassy shocked Latin America. Here’s why it may still pay off for Daniel Noboa
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa during his inauguration at the National Assembly in Quito on November 23, 2023. A close ideological ally of Correa, Lopez Obrador had since December allowed Glas to live at the Mexican embassy—territory that is technically off limits for local authorities. Lopez Obrador last week seemed to criticize the election that brought Noboa to power, suggesting the climate of fear created by Villavicencio’s murder had favored Noboa. President of Mexico Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a briefing at Palacio Nacional on March 12 in Mexico City. Hector Vivas/Getty ImagesWhile Lopez Obrador is at the sunset of his political career, Noboa is just getting started and seeks a strong platform to run for re-election next year.

Persons: “, ”, Jorge Glas, Ecuador’s, Daniel Noboa, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Noboa, Guillermo Lasso, Fernando Villavicencio, Alfredo ‘ Fito ’ Macias, RODRIGO BUENDIA, Glas, Rafael Correa, Lopez Obrador, Evo Morales, Peru’s Pedro Castillo, Correa, Villavicencio’s, Santiago Orbe, ” Orbe, Mexico Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Hector Vivas, Emilio Lezama, Bukele, Latinobarometro, It’s, it’s Organizations: Bogota CNN —, Colombian, National, Getty, Ecuadorian, CNN, Palacio Nacional, International Court of Justice Locations: Bogota, America, Guyana, Quito, Mexican, Mexico, Latin America, AFP, Ecuador, Glas, Vienna, Ukraine, Mexico City, El, El Salvador

Voters in El Salvador this week gave their tough-on-crime president a sweeping mandate: Keep going. Mr. Bukele’s unparalleled rise comes down to a single factor: El Salvador’s stunning crime drop. The crackdown Mr. Bukele has led on organized crime has all but dismantled the infamous street gangs that terrorized the population for decades. Since March 2022, when Mr. Bukele declared a state of emergency that suspended basic civil liberties, security forces have locked up roughly 75,000 people. The conditions that enabled Mr. Bukele’s success and political stardom are unique to El Salvador, and can’t be exported.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, Bukele, — Locations: El Salvador

☆ El Salvador election results delayed, despite president’s declaration of victory
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | Martin Goillandeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —El Salvador’s Supreme Electoral Court on Monday said it had asked polling stations across the country to manually record the results of Sunday’s presidential election after electronic transmission of results stopped updating overnight at around 31%. Voters line up at a polling station during general elections in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Sunday. El Salvador now has the world’s highest incarceration rate. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, left, accompanied by his wife Gabriela Rodriguez, waves to supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace in San Salvador, El Salvador, after polls closed on Sunday. A lopsided win for Bukele would likely give the young leader more leeway to reform El Salvador in his heavy-handed vision.

Persons: CNN — El, Nayib Bukele, Bukele, Moises Castillo, Bukele’s, El, Gabriela Rodriguez, autocrats, ” –, CNN’s David Shortell Organizations: CNN, Sunday, AP, El Salvador, Bukele Locations: San Salvador , El Salvador, El Salvador, American

☆ Voting underway in El Salvador, where strongman president’s victory is all but assured
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( David Shortell | Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Polls are open in El Salvador, where the strongman president Nayib Bukele is expected to easily win a second term amid a dramatic turnaround in the country’s once-sky high levels of violence. Bukele, 42, faced little in the way of organized opposition and enjoys one of the highest favorability ratings in the region, regularly polling above 70% in independent surveys. His supporters trumpet a crackdown on criminal gangs in the country that resulted in a dramatic fall in the murder rate, once the highest in the world. But the mass arrests – El Salvador now has the world’s highest incarceration rate – have also triggered outcry from human rights groups, who allege Bukele’s government has detained innocent people and subjected prisoners to dehumanizing conditions behind bars, including torture. A lopsided win for Bukele would likely give the young leader more leeway to reform El Salvador in his heavy-handed vision.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, – El, Bukele’s, ” Jackelyne Zelaya, Bukele, autocrats, ” –, Latinobarometro Organizations: CNN, Bukele, El Salvador, courant Locations: El Salvador, – El Salvador, American, Honduras, Ecuador, Latin America

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadorans are headed out to vote Sunday in a presidential and legislative elections that’s largely about the tradeoff between security and democracy. Nonetheless, about eight out of 10 of voters support Bukele, according to a January poll from the University of Central America. "He just needs a little bit more time, the time he needs to keep improving the country,” Mena said. In the lead-up to Sunday’s vote, Bukele made no public campaign appearances. “There’s this growing rejection of the basic principles of democracy and human rights, and support for authoritarian populism among people who feel that, concepts like democracy and human rights and due process have failed them,” said Tyler Mattiace, Americas researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Persons: —, Bukele, El, Farabundo, ”, Marleny Mena, Mena, ” Mena, “, Tyler Mattiace Organizations: SALVADOR, University of Central, Nationalist Republican Alliance, Liberation Front, Human Rights Watch Locations: El Salvador, University of Central America, San Salvador's, Americas

☆ El Salvador’s President Expected to Win Big, Despite Concerns Over Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Gabriel Labrador | Natalie Kitroeff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nayib Bukele, the millennial president who reshaped El Salvador by cracking down on both gangs and civil liberties, looked poised to win another five years in office after polls closed on Sunday. The electoral authorities had not released official results by Sunday night, but Mr. Bukele claimed victory in a post on X, saying he had won more than 85 percent of the vote. Legal scholars say Mr. Bukele violated the Constitution of El Salvador by seeking a second consecutive term, but most Salvadorans don’t seem to care. Since imposing a state of emergency in the spring of 2022. the Bukele government has arrested tens of thousands of people with no due process, filled the streets with soldiers and suspended key civil liberties. But the gangs that once ruled over much of the country have been decimated — making the 42-year-old leader enormously popular.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, Bukele Locations: El Salvador

☆ In El Salvador, self-styled ‘world’s coolest dictator’ Nayib Bukele heads for re-election amid human rights concerns
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

Employees of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal load boxes containing electoral material for the presidential and legislative elections at the Electoral Organization Directorate in San Marcos, El Salvador, on February 2, 2024. He adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador in 2021 and invited the tech-bros of the world to surf in the Pacific. Under Bukele, El Salvador’s homicide rate has plummeted. So, while El Salvador no longer faces record murder rates, it now boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world. Camilo Freedman/AFP/Getty ImagesA tale of two victimsJackelyne Zelaya does not see the enduring state of emergency as a problem.

Persons: Jocelyn Zelaya, ”, Jackelyne, ” Jackelyne Zelaya, Marcela, Jocelyn, Mara Salvatrucha, Zelaya, “, isn’t, Nayib, Yuri Cortez, Bukele, El, Camilo Freedman, Jackelyne Zelaya, won’t, Maria, tipster, Marvin Reyes, EFE, Guillermo Villatoro, Villatoro, Salvadorean Sandra Hernandez, Jose Dimas Medrano, Stringer, ‘, ’, Ilhan Omar, Samuel Rodriguez of MOVIR, “ Bukele, Daniel Noboa, Latinobarometro, she’s, Maria ’, ” Maria Organizations: CNN, World Bank, El, Employees, Electoral, Getty, FMLN, Civil, Justice Department, Army, “, Congress, Police, National Police, Security Ministry, Human Rights, Democratic, Barrios, Washington DC Locations: San Salvador, Zelaya, El Salvador, American, San Marcos, AFP, America, Latin America, United States, New York, El Salvador’s, Santa Ana, El Rosario, Honduras, WOLA, Washington, Ecuador, El

☆ El Salvador’s Strongman Is Set to Ride a Landslide Past Checks and Balances
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | Fred Ramos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

El Salvador’s government has jailed thousands of innocent people, suspended key civil liberties indefinitely and flooded the streets with soldiers. Now the president overseeing it all, Nayib Bukele, is being accused of violating the constitution by seeking re-election. And even his vice-presidential running mate admits their goal is “eliminating” what he sees as the broken democracy of the past. But polls show most Salvadorans support Mr. Bukele, often not in spite of his strongman tactics — but because of them. In elections on Sunday, voters are expected to hand Mr. Bukele and his New Ideas party a resounding victory, cementing the millennial president’s control over every branch of government.

Persons: Nayib, Bukele Organizations: El, Sunday

☆ Miss Universe: Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua wins 2023 pageant in El Salvador
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Alex Rees | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua was crowned the 2023 Miss Universe at the culmination of the annual beauty pageant, which took place on Saturday night in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador. The winners of 84 countries’ national pageants had competed at this year’s Miss Universe, judged by a panel including model Halima Aden, “Queer Eye” star Carson Kressley, TikTok influencer Avani Gregg and two former Miss Universe winners, Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad & Tobago (Miss Universe 1977) and Iris Mittenaere of France (Miss Universe 2016). Sheynnis Palacios, Miss Nicaragua, competes in the evening gown round. A newly-crowned Palacios waves to the audience in attendance at the Miss Universe pageant final. Palacios succeeds the 2022 Miss Universe, R’Bonney Gabriel of the USA.

Persons: CNN — Sheynnis Palacios, Anntonia, Carson Kressley, influencer Avani Gregg, Janelle Commissiong, Iris Mittenaere, Sheynnis Palacios, Hector Vivas, Palacios, Porsild, Moraya Wilson, Australia, Mary Wollstonecraft, “, ”, Marvin Recinos, Colombia, Camila Avella, Karla Guilfú, Athenea, Congeniality, R’Bonney Gabriel Organizations: CNN, Miss, Miss Universe, Getty Locations: Nicaragua, El Salvador’s, San Salvador, Thailand, Aden, Trinidad & Tobago, France, Miss Nepal, Miss Pakistan, Miss Nicaragua, British, AFP, Miss Puerto Rico, USA

☆ See the best evening gowns at the 2023 Miss Universe competition
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Alex Rees | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Benjamin Askinas/Courtesy Miss Universe Miss Bolivia, Estefany Rivero. Benjamin Askinas/Courtesy Miss Universe Miss Brazil, Maria Brechane. Benjamin Askinas/Courtesy Miss Universe Miss Bulgaria, Yuliia Pavlikova. Benjamin Askinas/Courtesy Miss Universe Miss Slovakia, Kinga Puhová Benjamin Askinas/Courtesy Miss Universe Miss South Africa, Bryoni Govender. The 2023 Miss Universe pageant also marks longtime Miss Universe Organization President Paula Shugart’s last year.

Since the end of October, citizens of 57 largely African countries and India have had to pay the fee, according to El Salvador’s aviation authority. Also, the U.S. has been pressuring Central American countries to curb migration flows to its border with Mexico. El Salvador’s aviation authority said most passengers who have to pay the fee are headed to Nicaragua on the commercial airline Avianca. Political Cartoons View All 1244 ImagesA flight itinerary of one Senegalese migrant seen by The Associated Press showed the migrant passing through Morocco, Spain and El Salvador before landing in Managua. “Part of me wonders ... we will not critique the Bukele administration as much because it’s supposedly reducing the levels of migrants?”___Associated Press writer Marcos Alemán in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this report.

Persons: — El, El Salvador’s, Nayib Bukele, Donald Trump's, Bukele, Joe Biden, ”, Biden, Pamela Ruiz, ” —, Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A, Nichols, “, Ruiz, Marcos Alemán Organizations: MEXICO CITY, Aviation, Central, Associated Press, El Salvador, El, U.S . State Department, Central America, International Crisis, State, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Crisis Locations: MEXICO, India, U.S, Mexico . U.S, Nicaragua, Haiti, Cuba, Africa, Morocco, Spain, El Salvador, Managua, United States, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, San Salvador , El Salvador

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama’s President, Laurentino Cortizo, signed into law an indefinite moratorium on new mining concessions Friday. An article was removed, however, that would have revoked a controversial mining contract that sparked nationwide protests over the past two weeks. Minera Panama is a local subsidiary of Canadian mining company First Quantum. Protests continued across the country Friday, drawing supporters from Indigenous groups and unions across the education, construction and medical sectors. In 2017, El Salvador’s congress passed a total ban on the mining of metals in the country, becoming one of the first countries to enact such a broad ban.

Persons: —, Laurentino Cortizo, Cortizo Organizations: PANAMA CITY, Panama’s Locations: PANAMA, Panama, Colon, El

☆ El Salvador’s abortion laws are notoriously harsh. These women say they were convicted of homicide after having stillborn babies
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

CNN —A sign greets visitors arriving at a sun-filled two-story house in El Salvador’s capital. But within El Salvador, a largely Catholic and evangelical Christian country, some viewed the women’s accounts with skepticism and hostility. Again, the UN’s human rights office weighed in, calling El Salvador’s laws “draconian.”Two months later, 11 justices from El Salvador’s Supreme Court commuted Vásquez’s sentence, saying evidence in the case did not prove that she had taken any action to end her baby’s life. The Harvard professor has been studying these women’s cases and the impact of El Salvador’s abortion restrictions for years. This shows her after a visit in August 2018, six months after El Salvador's Supreme Court commuted her sentence.

Persons: Teodora Vásquez, they’ll, It’s, El Salvador, it’s, Vásquez, who’ve, “ We’ve, ” Vásquez, “, ”, Teodora, Oscar Rivera, Salvador Melendez, Jocelyn Viterna, ” Viterna, Viterna, Dana Sussman, —, Benedicte, Ra’ad Al Hussein, José Miguel Fortín Magaña, Jose Cabezas, El, ‘, ’ ” Vásquez, Libres, who've, Jessie Wardarski, “ I’ve, Jacqueline Castillo, “ It’s, ” Castillo, she’s, Mujeres, there’s, Marvin Recinos, She’s, Merlin Delcid, CNN’s Tierney Sneed Organizations: CNN, El, Getty, Hollywood, Amnesty, of Women, Harvard University, Salvadoran, Pregnancy, UN, Human Rights, El Salvador’s Institute of Legal Medicine, Reuters, Citizen Group, Harvard, Mujeres Libres El, Inter, American, of Human, “, of Steel Locations: El Salvador’s, “, Libres El Salvador, Mujeres, Salvadoran, El Salvador, United States, New York, El, San Salvador, Mujeres Libres, Mujeres Libres El Salvador, AFP

☆ Markets in Q3: Gains, pains and oil reigns
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The chimneys of the Total Grandpuits oil refinery are seen just after sunset, southeast of Paris, France, March 1, 2021. Gold has lost its shine too meaning that only oil and gas, cash and the dollar have proved reliably profitable. “If you are going above $100 a barrel and staying there you are starting to create that inflation narrative again”. Athens’ main stock market is up 26.5% this year, even if it is down 11% since July. “The comforting news for Q4 though is that we should be close to peak (global) interest rates,” Metcalfe said.

Persons: Christian Hartmann, It’s, Salman Ahmed, Japan’s, ”, Robert Alster, El Salvador’s, Tayyip Erdogan’s, Argentina’s, Michael Metcalfe, ” Metcalfe Organizations: REUTERS, Christian, Federal Reserve &, Macro, Deutsche Bank, Management, Russia, U.S, Athens ’, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, Meta, Street Global Markets, Indicators Locations: Paris, France, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Athens, Pakistan, Britain’s, Turkey, Nigeria, Colombia, Mexico, U.S, Poland, Ecuador, Japan

Bukele said that if El Salvador had listened to external critics — including some at the United Nations — the tiny Central American country would again be the murder capital of the world. They are irrefutable.”More than 72,000 people have been arrested under a state of emergency Bukele requested in March 2022 after a surge in gang violence. Political Cartoons View All 1169 ImagesIn March, the U.N. human rights office expressed concern over the year-long crackdown, noting widespread human rights violations, thousands of unsubstantiated arrests and dozens of in-custody deaths. In 2015, El Salvador was considered one of the world’s most violent as it recorded 6,656 homicides, or about 106 per 100,000 people. Bukele mentioned the Central American and Caribbean Games that El Salvador hosted in June and the upcoming Miss Universe competition that will come to El Salvador in November, as well as international surfing competitions that Bukele has promoted.

Persons: — El, Nayib Bukele, Bukele, El Salvador, ” Bukele, Salvadorans, El, “, ” Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, General, United Nations, El, Legislative, National Civil Police, Central American, Caribbean Games, Miss Locations: — El Salvador, American, El Salvador

Ecuador and Guatemala held elections on Sunday that shed light on crucial trends throughout Latin America, including anticorruption drives, the growing importance of young voters and calls to emulate El Salvador’s crackdown on crime. In Ecuador, where the assassination this month of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio cast a pall over campaigning, an establishment leftist, Luisa González, will head into a runoff against Daniel Noboa, the scion of a well-heeled family known for its banana empire. And in Guatemala, the progressive anti-graft crusader Bernardo Arévalo won in a landslide over a former first lady, Sandra Torres, dealing a blow to the country’s conservative political establishment. As concerns simmer over the erosion of the rule of law and the expanding sway of drug gangs in different parts of Latin America, the voting was watched closely for signs of what the outcomes could mean.

Persons: El, Fernando Villavicencio, Luisa González, Daniel Noboa, Bernardo Arévalo, Sandra Torres Locations: Ecuador, Guatemala, America

☆ Ecuador election: assassinations cast a grim shadow as country selects a new president
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Tara John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Nearly 100,000 troops will be dispatched to ensure public safety and order across Ecuador on election day, Ecuador’s government says. Friends, family members and supporters of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio attend a tribute at Quito Exhibition Center. Henry Romero/ReutersEverything to play forAnything could happen in Sunday’s presidential vote, say analysts, who point to the killing of Villavicencio as potentially changing voters’ preferences. Journalist and presidential candidate Christian Zurita gestures next to his running mate, vice presidential candidate Andrea Gonzalez (R), in Quito on August 13, 2023. Ecuador presidential candidate Yaku Perez looks on as he arrives to participate in a presidential debate, in Quito, Ecuador August 13, 2023.

Persons: CNN —, Fernando Villavicencio, Otto Sonnenholzner, Guillermo Lasso, Henry Romero, ”, Laura Lizarazo, “, Glaeldys González, …, Pedro Briones, Luisa González, Rafael Correa, Lizarazo, Rodrigo Buendia, Correa, González, Villavicencio, Christian Zurita, Andrea Gonzalez, Martin Bernetti, Moreno, Erika Paredes, Marcos Pin, ” Lizarazo, Yaku, Yaku Perez, Karen Toro, El, Nayib Bukele –, Bukele, Jan, Vicente Gaibor del Pino Organizations: CNN, Quito Exhibition Center, Reuters, ”, Crisis, Movimiento, Getty, CNN En, Construye’s, Alianza Actuemos Locations: Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, United States, Guayaquil, Esmeraldas province, Quito, AFP, Belgium, Samborondon

☆ Fernando Villavicencio assasination: How corruption and gang warfare transformed Ecuador
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Tara John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But the high-profile assassination on Wednesday of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio could be a turning point for the country that has so far struggled to control the bloodshed. Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio ran on an anti-corruption platform prior to his death. Floundering authoritiesSecurity and state forces have been badly unprepared for the rise of criminal groups in the country. A a car transports the body of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on August 10. Last year, the US withdrew visas from high-ranking officers of Ecuadorian state security forces, alleged to be linked to drug trafficking, as well as several judges and lawyers.

Persons: CNN —, Fernando Villavicencio, ” Juan Pappier, Watch’s, “, Karen Toro, Laura Lizarazo, ”, ” Lizarazo, Ecuador’s, Guillermo Lasso, Lizarazo, Eric Farnsworth, –, Villavicencio –, El, Nayib Bukele, Luisa González, Rafael Correa, Vicente Gaibor del Pino Organizations: CNN, Customs, Border Patrol, Ecuadorian, Reuters, Lobos, of, Americas Society, Security Locations: Ecuador, ”, Peru, Colombia, Europe, Washington, Americas

☆ Guatemalan Candidates Pledge to Imitate El Salvador’s Crime Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Juan Montes | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

☆ The New York Couple Behind El Salvador’s Bitcoin Experiment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Santiago Pérez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador—Two New Yorkers who created a popular financial news show on Russian state television and cashed in on the crypto boom have emerged as key advisers to the Salvadoran government on its adoption of bitcoin. Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert are also investing in bitcoin ventures in the Central American country and are founding backers of a crypto exchange that is helping manage El Salvador’s sovereign debt sale that is linked to bitcoin. The so-called Volcano Token bond will be backed by proceeds from bitcoin mined using geothermal power from a volcano.

☆ El Salvador Legislators Pass Law Allowing Bitcoin Bond Sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Santiago Pérez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

El Salvador’s presidential administration has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to roll out bitcoin as a national currency. El Salvador’s lawmakers approved legislation to regulate bond sales backed by crypto assets, a measure that aims to raise funds tied to the value of bitcoin and other digital assets, President Nayib Bukele said Wednesday. The Digital Asset Issuance Law was approved with 62 votes in favor and 16 against at the country’s National Assembly. Mr. Bukele’s New Ideas party has a majority in the country’s legislature.

☆ Salvadoran lawmakers pass digital asset issuance law in bitcoin haven
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The purpose of this law is to establish the legal framework that grants legal certainty to transfer operations to any title of digital assets used in public issuance offers," according to the legislation. Public offerings may be made by issuers using existing digital assets, with the opportunity to create new ones through them, the law indicates. The law also establishes the creation of the National Commission for Digital Assets and the Bitcoin Funds Administration Agency, which will be in charge of managing, safeguarding, and investing the funds from public offerings of digital assets carried out by the government. It also would not apply to digital assets that by law are legal tender such as bitcoin, in addition to the video game ecosystem or Non-Fungible Tokens. Nonetheless, President Bukele shared on Twitter a message from the country's bitcoin office saying the law also paves the way for volcano bonds to be issued soon.

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