Tag Archives: Central America

The Guardian reports: The Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been shot dead as he left a campaign event in Quito, days before an election where the central issue is the rise violence and crime. Videos on social media show Villavicencio, a former journalist who had collaborated with the Guardian and was outspoken about alleged links between organised crime and …

El Pais reports: As a result of the fall in global markets caused by the uncertainty of the war in Ukraine, rising inflation and the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates, the price of the most popular cryptocurrency in the world has plummeted more than 50% from its all-time highs. And with it, so too have the bonds …

Agence France-Presse reports: Costa Rica legalised same-sex marriage on Tuesday, becoming the first Central American country to do so and sparking an emotional response from rights campaigners as the first weddings were held overnight. Celebrations were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a special program about LGBT rights was broadcast on public television and online after a court ruling …

Reuters reports: Guatemala will from Monday widen travel restrictions to fight the spread of coronavirus, banning arrivals from the United States and Canada, President Alejandro Giammattei said on Friday. “We are therefore announcing that everyone who arrives from Canada and the United States between now and midnight on Monday will be subject to quarantining,” Giammattei said in a televised address. …

Gay Star News reports: Ecuador has voted in favor of marriage equality in a landmark ruling today (12 June). Confirming the hopes of local activists, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriage in the country. Today’s ruling centered on whether the Inter-American Court Ruling of January 2018, which recognized same-sex marriage, compels Ecuador to legalize same-sex marriage. Judges …

Reuters reports: The United States is cutting off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, known collectively as the “Northern Triangle,” the State Department said on Saturday, a day after President Donald Trump blasted the Central American countries for sending migrants to the United States. “We are carrying out the President’s direction and ending FY (fiscal year) 2017 and FY …

The Associated Press reports: Costa Rica’s supreme court has given the country’s legislature 18 months to change the law to allow gay marriage. The court voted to make gay marriage legal, declaring that existing laws banning it were unconstitutional. Magistrate Fernando Castillo said in a news conference that the laws were inconsistent with an opinion issued in January by the …

The Washington Post reports: Costa Rica’s governing party won a big presidential election victory Sunday as many voters rejected an evangelical pastor who had jumped into political prominence by campaigning against same-sex marriage. The head of the Supreme Electoral Council, Luis Antonio Sobrado, said that with 95 percent of ballots counted Sunday night, Carlos Alvarado of the ruling Citizen Action …

The Associated Press reports: An international court ruling saying Costa Rica should allow same-sex marriage has upended the Central American nation’s presidential race, turning an evangelical candidate who opposes it from an also-ran with just 2 percent in the polls into the leading contender in Sunday’s vote. Following last month’s decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Fabricio Alvarado, …

The BBC reports: The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights has ruled that same-sex marriages should be recognised. The court’s rulings apply to countries which have signed the American Convention on Human Rights. Some of the signatories already recognise same-sex marriages while others recognise same-sex civil unions. But others, such as Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru do not …

Critica Panama reports: The music, dances, flags, flashy costumes and slogans of equality of rights and against discrimination were the elements that accompanied thousands of people who participated in gay pride march this Saturday, July 1. The event began at 4:00 pm, led by First Lady Lorena Castillo de Varela, United States Ambassador to Panama John Feeley, Mayor of the …

The Belize News reports: Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin today found that Section 53 of the Criminal Code which criminalizes consenting intercourse between adults of the same sex contravenes the right granted by the Constitution of Belize to no interference with a person’s dignity and personal privacy, as well as equality and equal treatment of all persons before the law. So …

Michael Lavers reports at the Washington Blade: A prominent LGBT rights activist in Honduras was murdered this week. La Prensa, a Honduran newspaper, reported Rene Martínez’s family reported him missing on Wednesday after he left his home in the city of San Pedro Sula’s Chamelecón neighborhood and got into someone’s car. La Prensa reported that Martínez’s relatives identified his body …

Anti-gay television personality Jimmy Morales has been elected president of Guatemala in a landslide win against a former first lady. And according to Breitbart, that means television personality Donald Trump will probably beat a former first lady too. They write: Because worldwide political trends are often contagious, the outcome of Guatemala’s presidential election could have a serious effect on the …

The Tico Times reports: Casa Presidencial presented a bill Wednesday to legalize same-sex common-law marriages in Costa Rica. Supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights celebrated the announcement, even though the government stumbled in its execution of the controversial measure. Bill 18.483 would reform several articles of the family code to formally recognize “stable” relationships of more than three …

Via the Tico Times: A Costa Rican judge has granted the first openly gay common-law marriage in Central America, said Francisco Madrigal, political affairs director for the Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights in Central America (CIPAC). On Tuesday morning, news broke that Gerald Castro and Cristian Zamora, a gay couple in the city of Goicoechea, north of …

Via Agence France-Presse: A new legal definition of what constitutes a family took effect in Nicaragua on Wednesday, drawing ire from gay groups who say it massively impacts their rights. The so-called Family Code, which was first agreed in June 2014, establishes marriage as only being “between a man and a woman.” Aside from barring gay marriage, the definition precludes …

Costa Rica is generally regarded as relatively LGBT friendly, so this is disturbing. Via Inside Costa Rica: In the survey, in which nearly 500 police, traffic, and immigration officers responded, 17.7% said they felt it was acceptable to demand bribes from gay people while 20.4% found it acceptable to detain gay people without probable cause. A further 15.7% said they …

Via the Tico Times: Just over a week since taking office, President Luis Guillermo Solís made history Friday morning when he became the first Costa Rican leader to raise the rainbow flag of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement on even mast with the Costa Rican red-white-and-blue tricolor on the lawn of the Casa Presidencial. Vice President Ana Helena …

An attempt to place a ban on same-sex marriage into the national constitution has failed miserably in El Salvador. According to Spanish news agency EFE, only 19 out of 84 lawmakers on Friday voted in favor of the ban. The measure, which cleared the chamber in 2012, defines marriage as between a man and a woman and their children. It …