Central America

Organized Crime, Main Risk in a Critical Electoral Year for Latin America

Organized crime and insecurity are the primary political risks facing Latin America in 2024 as the region enters a pivotal election year, according to a new report that underscores the complex security situation newly elected leaders will face. Major elections are slated across the region, including presidential elections in El Salvador, Panama, Mexico, and Venezuela. In these races, organized crime and the state’s … Read more

Pensions Are a Trap of the Sandinista Regime in Nicaragua

Despite having retired more than a decade ago, at 71 years old, Agustín had to go back to work to survive. “I have had this job, in a factory in New York, since recently,” he says while getting ready to cover a seven-hour night shift. The job is packaging cookies. Agustín reached the United States in 2023. Without a pension, despite being over 60 years of age, which entitled him to a pension by law in Nicaragua, his … Read more

Corruption, Crypto Test LatAm Money Laundering Laws

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean face multiple obstacles to effective anti-money laundering enforcement, even though the region ranks above the world average in its adoption of legal frameworks, according to a new report. The 2023 edition of the anti-money laundering index produced annually by the Basel Institute on Governance highlighted how Latin America and the Caribbean’s … Read more

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration renews credit line to Nicaragua for $200 million

The Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN) reported that it had renewed a credit line for up to $200 million with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). The credit line is to support the country’s liquidity management. The contract was signed on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, and its objective … Read more

Gisela Sanchez, elected new president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI)

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) Assembly of Governors elected Costa Rican Ana Gisela Sanchez as the institution’s new president. Gisela Sanchez was elected this Friday, November 17, becoming the first woman president of CABEI. Her election ended a Honduran dynasty at the head of the principal financial … Read more

An Extradition (and a Fentanyl Prohibition) as Mexico Tries a Counterdrug Reset

Mexico’s fast-tracked extradition of a top fentanyl trafficker to the United States and a months-long, underworld-enforced prohibition of fentanyl production suggest Mexico’s government and some of its most-targeted criminal actors may be trying to reset US-Mexico counternarcotics relations. On September 15, Mexico’s government extradited Ovidio Guzmán López, a top leader of the Chapitos … Read more

Cuscatlan Bank (Banco Cuscatlan) Begins Operations in Honduras

Hondurans woke up today with the news that Cuscatlan Bank (Banco Cuscatlan) would begin operating in Honduras. Today, Cuscatlan Investments Central America announced that it is fully entering the Honduran banking market. Cuscatlán Investments received authorization to purchase the majority of shares of Banco de los Trabajadores (Worker’s Bank). The … Read more