Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, emphasized the many concerns raised leading up to the “grave event.”

Brooklyn Rivera should not have died in the custody of the Nicaraguan state. His death followed the deterioration of his health while he was being arbitrarily detained. During this time, the authorities held him without confirming his whereabouts, without access to his family or to trusted legal counsel, and without independent oversight to verify his situation. Amnesty International repeatedly warned that these circumstances placed his personal integrity and life at risk. Today, those warnings have materialized into a death that the state must explain.

On May 31, Nicaragua’s government attributed Rivera’s cause of death to a bacterial infection.

Last week the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) called for Rivera’s immediate release and urgent medical attention. WOLA raised concerns over his condition following the release of a statement and photographs by the Nicaraguan government on May 27 to provide proof of life, as requested by UN experts.

Jan-Michael Simon, chair of the UN Group, outlined the government’s legal obligations moving forward, stating:

Under international law, Nicaragua must conduct an independent investigation into Brooklyn Rivera’s death in custody, ensure a transparent forensic autopsy, return his remains to the family without delay, and guarantee accountability for his enforced disappearance and related violations.

Similarly, Piquer stressed the “right to truth,” stating that Nicaraguan authorities are obligated to provide “immediate and unrestricted access” to all information on his detention and death.

Rivera was arrested in September 2023 after he returned to Nicaragua despite being banned from the country for his remarks at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in Geneva that April. He lived in hiding until he was apprehended and charged with “terrorism.” According to Reed Brody, human rights lawyer and member of the UN panel, “Nobody heard from him since then.”

Rivera was a renowned leader of the Miskito indigenous people. Beginning in the 1980s, Rivera fought the ruling Sandinista government, seeking to establish an autonomous region for the Miskito in Nicaragua’s east. After returning from exile in Costa Rica, he played a central role in winning pledges of regional autonomy in peace negotiations. In the late 1980s, he founded the indigenous political party YATAMA. A detailed history has been published by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.

“Brooklyn Rivera spent 40 years fighting for his people, and hopefully the international community will finally pay attention,” Brody said.

Rights groups are also calling for attention to those who remain imprisoned for “political reasons.” The UN Group has documented serious human rights violations against other members of YATAMA, and a total of 124 arbitrary detentions of Indigenous leaders between 2018 and 2024. There are nine other detained persons whose whereabouts are currently unknown.

From JURIST, June 1. Used with permission.

See our last reports on the career of Brooklyn Rivera.

Photo: Brooklyn Rivera family via Amnesty International

The scandal centers on leaked audio recordings obtained by the outlet Diario Red, which allegedly capture conversations between JOH, current Honduran President Nasry Asfura, and Vice President María Antionieta Mejía discussing a plan to undermine progressive governments in the region through a media disinformation campaign. The recordings appear to indicate that Israel played a direct role in the scheme.

JOH—who had been sentenced to 45 years in US federal prison on drug trafficking charges before being pardoned by Trump in late November, a move widely interpreted as interventionin Honduras’ elections—apparently claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu helped secure his release. The scheme reportedly sought to create a JOH-led media channel to spread fake news against left-wing leaders in the region while opening up Honduran land to foreign investment. Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei, who has described himself as “the most Zionist president in the world,” was also allegedly involved.

The scandal unfolded just as Herzog embarked on a highly successful diplomatic tour of Central America. After stopping in Panama, Herzog attended last week’s inauguration of Costa Rican President Laura Fernández, whose right-wing government appears poised to deepen ties to Israel. Fernández held the first official meeting of her presidency with Herzog and pledged to move Costa Rica’s embassy to Jerusalem, crossing a long-standing diplomatic red-line given that much of the city remains occupied territory and is not internationally recognized as Israel’s capital. Herzog also met in Costa Rica with Chilean President José Antonio Kast, who vowed to restore diplomatic ties with Israel after his predecessor Gabriel Boric recalled Chile’s ambassador in protest of the war in Gaza. Herzog likewise met in Costa Rica with Asfura, an ardent Zionist of Palestinian descent who has already visited Israel and affirmed his intention to strengthen diplomatic ties with Israel.

The trip underscored a broader regional shift. In the immediate aftermath of Israel’s genocidal response to the October 7 attacks, Latin America’s progressive governments emerged as some of the strongest international critics of the Israeli state. Leaders from Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras and Chile either withdrew their ambassadors from Israel or suspended diplomatic ties entirely. But many of the region’s new right-wing governments are now reversing those measures, weakening what had been a significant international front of opposition to Israel’s war.

At the same time, Israel’s violence continues to reverberate directly in the region. Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, one of the leaders of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was detained by Israeli forces after participating in a humanitarian aid mission bound for Gaza. The flotilla set sail from Spain weeks ago, but after 22 boats were stopped near Crete on April 30, Israeli forces transferred 168 activists to Greece while taking Ávila and the Spanish activist Saif Abu Keshek to Israel for further interrogation. Both men were released last week after investigations into alleged ties with terrorist organizations, but they claim they were tortured during their detention—and described the far worse conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s treatment of Ávila reignited calls within Brazil for President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva to move beyond critical rhetoric to a fully sever ties with Israel. As Israel deepens relations with Latin America’s ascendant right wing, accountability for the ongoing destruction in Gaza appears increasingly out of reach.

From NACLA Update, May 15. Lightly edited, internal links added.

Map: Perry-Castañeda Library

The organizations report that the administration in April re-arrested and forcibly transferred to third countries people who had previously been granted withholding of removal by US immigration judges and had prevailed on habeas petitions challenging the legality of their detention. The report documents an attempted transfer of individuals to Libya last year in violation of a court order then in effect.

Approximately 16,000 of the documented transfers have been to Mexico. That figure includes thousands of individuals the administration failed to acknowledge in a March 5 disclosure to a federal court. Roughly 1,400 additional people have been sent to 20 other countries, including Eswatini, South Sudan and Uganda. A March 2026 agreement with Costa Rica provides for regular weekly transfers.

The tracker reports that the administration has paid at least $44 million to receiving governments in connection with the agreements and has used the threat of third-country transfer to pressure detained immigrants into abandoning their legal claims.

Separately, the tracker reports that government attorneys have filed motions to “pretermit,” or dismiss without merits review, thousands of pending asylum cases in immigration court on the basis of Asylum Cooperative Agreements with Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Uganda. Citing data compiled by immigration advocacy group Mobile Pathways from Executive Office for Immigration Review records, the tracker counts nearly 9,500 such pretermissions as of February 2026. The following month, the Department of Homeland Security directed Immigration & Customs Enforcement attorneys to stop filing new pretermission motions but did not withdraw those already pending.

The administration has invoked a range of statutory and constitutional authorities to justify the transfers, including the Alien Enemies Act, and the suspension-of-entry provision at 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f). Federal judges have held several uses of those authorities unlawful, including in challenges to expulsions of Venezuelans to El Salvador and to forced transfers of people with final removal orders carried out without notice or an opportunity to raise fear-based claims.

From JURIST, May 5. Used with permission.

See our last report on the third-country deportations.

See our podcast “MAGA-fascism and the struggle in Libya”

Photo: Venezuelan deportees in Honduras. Credit: ICE via Wikimedia Commons

The arbitration, to commence in London later this month, is to resolve a dispute involving a 25-year contract granted in 2021 for “the exclusive use of PPC port terminal operations in Panama and access to a range of PPC operational facilities and information.”

PPC’s press release portrayed improprer collusion between Maersk and the Panamanian government in the contract breach:

Maersk undermined the contract and aligned with the Republic of Panama in connection with its State campaign against PPC and scheme to replace it through a takeover that installed new port operators. It is already notorious that, on 23 February 2026, Panama expelled PPC from port operations through extreme executive measures, took over the port terminals, and entered into a pre-arranged concession contract for the Balboa terminal with a new operator that is affiliated with Maersk and has utilized PPC operational facilities and information.

In January, Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that the concession allowing the PPC to control and operate the Balboa and Cristóbal ports was unconstitutional. As a result of the ruling, Panama’s central government seized control of both ports, much to the dismay of China.

The PPC says its claim against Maersk is “distinct from” and “without prejudice to” other ongoing legal steps it is taking to hold Panama accountable for its “anti-contract and anti-investor conduct.”

“PPC will vigorously pursue its claims in the Maersk arbitration and its claims against Panama, as well as other rights and remedies,” the press release read.

Maersk said in a statement that it does not believe it is liable for the claims and will address them “in the appropriate forum,” without elaborating. There was no immediate comment from Panama’s government.

Initial proceedings against Panama commenced in February. In late March, the PPC expanded its claims and is now seeking more than $2 billion in damages.

The Chinese government is meanwhile said to be interfering in CK Hutchison’s plans to sell the majority of the dozen ports it owns, including both ports in Panama, to a consortium of buyers, including US investment firm BlackRock, in a $23 billion deal.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has “made blocking China’s influence over the Panama Canal one of its top priorities,” according to an NBC report.

From JURIST, April 9. Used with permission.

Photo: Editorpana via Wikimedia Commons

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on March 16 raised concerns that El Salvador’s government is arbitrarily detaining and forcibly “disappearing” Salvadorans deported from the US.

HRW reported that between mid-March and mid-October 2025, at least 11 Salvadoran men deported from the US to El Salvador were immediately detained, and denied contact with relatives or lawyers. Interviews with 20 relatives and attorneys revealed that none of the detainees appeared to have been brought before a judge, and in several cases, families were not informed of where the men were held or why they were detained. When relatives contacted authorities for information, officials reportedly refused to provide details, stating they lacked a legal mandate or had no record of the relatives’ connection to the detainees.

Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at HRW, condemned the Salvadorian government, stating: “Whatever the criminal history of these Salvadoran men, they have a right to due process, to be taken before a judge, and their relatives are entitled to know where they are being held and why.”

Since the beginning of 2025, the US has deported more than 9,000 Salvadorans to El Salvador. Some of them have been sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a mega-prison notorious for its abusive conditions. HWR has reported that deportees sent to CECOT have been subjected to torture, and held incommunicado.

Enforced disappearance is universally prohibited as a human rights violation, and is an international crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 2 of the 2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance defines “enforced disappearance” as:

[T]he arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of law.

The language mirrors the definition of “enforced disappearance of persons” under Article 7(2) of the Rome Statute. Although El Salvador has not signed on to the Convention, it is a state party to the Rome Statute.

El Salvador has been under a state of emergency since 2022, which has allowed the government to suspend due process rights, including individuals’ right to be informed of charges against them and right to a hearing before a judge within 72 hours upon arrest.

From JURIST, March 16. Used with permission.

Photo: President Nayib Bukele tours CECOT. Credit: Casa Presidencial via Wikimedia Commons

Image: Grunge Love

The recent killings are believed to be gang retaliation for state authorities retaking gang-controlled areas of three maximum-security prisons. The facilities had been taken over in a series of riots that saw over 40 guards taken hostage. The riots were apparently a response to incarcerated gang members losing certain privileges in prison. No deaths or injuries have been reported from the retaking of the prisons.

The Guatemalan Constitution holds that a state of siege can be declared when ordinary civil powers are not sufficient to respond to internal disorder, and can thus temporarily suspend certain constitutional rights.

Since taking office, the Arévalo government has cracked down on gangs, or maras, operating in Guatemala. The two most notable of these gangs are MS-13 and Barrio 18, both of which which the US and Guatemalan governments have designated as “terrorist organizations.” Guatemala has said that it will not negotiate with the maras.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele declared a similar state of emergency in 2022 in response to gang violence. In April 2025, US President Donald Trump praised Bukele and the nation’s justice system as “tough on crime.” However, human rights organizations have criticized El Salvador’s police practices and judicial system.

National Civil Police director David Boteo advised Guatemalans to stay home when possible, and the Ministry of Education has cancelled classes across the country.

From JURIST, Jan. 19. Used with permission.

See our last reports on the maras and the prison crisis in Central America.

Image: Freestock via Flickr

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The repeated failures of the website set up by Honduran electoral authorities to publish vote tallies have enabled political leaders from across the spectrum to cast doubt on the results. Nevertheless, though the count is ongoing, some results are clear. The left-wing candidate of the ruling LIBRE party, Rixi Moncada, was defeated by a wide margin, even though the party claimed victory late on the day of the voting based on exit polls. It is therefore clear that the next president—and the majority of Congress—will be from one of the two traditional parties, the National Party and Liberal Party, though which one is still up in the air.

The battle is now between the Liberal Party’s Salvador Nasralla, a well-known public figure who has run for president several times and served as vice president from 2022-2024, and the National Party’s Nasry “Tito” Asfura, the former mayor of Tegucigalpa who received explicit backing from Trump. The two have traded razor-thin leads since the vote: Asfura initially held a narrow lead, but after the first system crash, Nasralla narrowly pulled ahead. By Dec. 4, after another crash and with more than 80% of the votes counted, Asfura was back on top—prompting accusations of fraud from Nasralla.

Trump has also alleged fraud, accusing Honduran electoral authorities of “trying to change the results” after the initial “technical tie.” This was far from his only intervention in the electoral process. In the lead-up to the vote, Trump publicly endorsed Asfura, threatened to withhold US aid if he lost, and labelled Nasralla a “communist,” even though he is running on a hard-line security agenda inspired by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

These maneuvers paled in comparison, however, to Trump’s most egregious move: the shocking pardon of Hernández, known by his initials JOH. JOH was extradited to the United States in 2022 and sentenced in 2024 to 45 years in prison for taking bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for facilitating the transit of hundreds of tons of cocaine. Prosecutors argued that virtually his entire political career—from his time as a lawmaker to his rise to power in 2013—was fueled by drug money. Though he cast himself as a reliable partner in the US war on drugs (and migrants), and enjoyed the support of presidents Obama, Biden and Trump, the facade crumbled after his brother’s 2018 arrest in Miami on drug trafficking and weapons charges. Hondurans, fed up with his apparently fraudulent 2017 re-election and pervasive corruption, elected left-wing candidate Xiomara Castro in 2021, and shipped JOH off to the United States the following year.

The pardon, which was granted after Hernandez claimed persecution by the Biden administration, was particularly outrageous given Trump’s ongoing threats to escalate deadly strikes on alleged “drug boats,” which he has labelled a threat to US national security. The administration’s murderous attacks on random vessels have always been morally indefensible and transparently aimed at “regime change” Venezuela, but pardoning a man who once boasted that he would “stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses” pushed the hypocrisy to new extremes.

Despite expectations that the pardon would harm Asfura, the political fallout appears minimal. In fact, amid rising costs of living and a deepening security crisis, some voters cast ballots for Asfura precisely because they associate him with Hernández, whose tenure they now recall more favorably. Whether he ultimately wins or not, Asfura’s popularity surged in the lead-up to election day, an effect many observers attribute to Trump’s support.

Though the Honduran left will soon be out of power, there was one piece of encouraging news: despite predictions of widespread unrest, the situation has so far remained relatively calm.

From NACLA Update, Dec. 5. Slightly edited.

See our special feature: “The Paradox of Trump’s Drug War: Pardons for the Convicted, Drone Strikes for the Suspected”

Map: Perry-Castañeda Library

According to an 81-page report jointly released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal, a Salvadoran advocacy organization, members of a group of 252 Venezuelan deportees sent to El Salvador’s notorious Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) were subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, and in some instances sexual abuse, while held incommunicado in inhumane conditions. The organizations found a pattern of coordinated abuse rather than isolated incidents. One former detainee told the investigators: “I’m on alert all the time because every time I heard the sound of keys and handcuffs, it meant they were coming to beat us.”

HRW blames the Trump administration for the conditions the Venezuelans faced, stating that the administration paid El Salvador nearly $5 million to detain the individuals. President Trump issued a presidential proclamation on March 14, regarding the “invasion of the United States by Tren de Aragua.” Trump claimed that thousands of members of Tren de Aragua, (TdA), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, had entered the US. He further stated that TdA operates “in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking.” Despite Trump’s claim that those sent to El Salvador were criminals, HRW released data indicating that only eight (3.1%) had been convicted in the US of a “violent or potentially violent” crime, while nearly 49% had no criminal history.

The US District Court for the District of Columbia swiftly issued a two-week temporary restraining order on March 15, blocking the government from removing Venezuelans from the US. However, the government continued with deportations, resulting in the court ruling in April that there was probable cause to hold the government in contempt. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in September that the Trump administration cannot invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport Venezuelan nationals, holding that the AEA is applicable only in cases of war or invasion by a foreign nation or government.

The Venezuelans who were detained have since been returned to their home country, where nearly 8 million people have fled a humanitarian emergency and harsh repression under the regime of Nicolas Maduro.

From JURIST, Nov. 12. Used with permission. Internal links added.