Central America

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US Inks Deal to Help Panama Control 'Shocking' Migration

New Panama president says he'll shut down Darien Gap route; US will pay migrant repatriation costs

(Newser) - Hundreds of thousands of people cross the Darien Gap each year, a perilous 66-mile stretch of jungle connecting the South American country of Colombia and the Central American country of Panama—many of them on their way to the United States. Now, Panama's new leader is vowing to shutter...

Exposed in Ga.: 'Underworld of Human Trafficking'

3 men have been sentenced for a 'modern-day slavery' scheme involving Central Americans

(Newser) - Three men have been sentenced to federal prison as part of a broad investigation into what authorities say was a wide-ranging conspiracy to bring workers from Central America to the United States for forced labor on southern Georgia farms. The three men were charged in separate but related cases related...

Happy 'B-Day,' El Salvador
Happy 'B-Day,' El Salvador

Happy 'B-Day,' El Salvador

Starting Tuesday, bitcoin can be used as legal tender nationwide

(Newser) - Earlier this year, El Salvador became the first country to give bitcoin the green light as legal tender. And Tuesday is "B-day," the day that legislation goes into effect, with Salvadorans now able to use the cryptocurrency in any transaction. Residents in the country—which has had the...

Hurricane Season's 30th Storm Is Strongest Yet

Iota expected to bring catastrophic damage to Central America

(Newser) - Hurricane Iota rapidly strengthened Monday into a Category 5 storm that is likely to bring catastrophic damage to the same part of Central America already battered by a powerful Hurricane Eta less than two weeks ago. Iota has intensified over the western Caribbean on approach to Nicaragua and Honduras, the...

Rivers Begin Overflowing as Eta Hits Nicaragua

Thousands move to shelters, and army has moved in to prepare

(Newser) - The heart of powerful Hurricane Eta began moving ashore in Nicaragua on Tuesday with devastating winds and rains that had already destroyed rooftops and caused rivers to overflow. The hurricane had sustained winds of 140mph, according to the US National Hurricane Center, down from an overnight peak of 150mph. On...

Rain From Latest Hurricane Could Measure in Feet, Not Inches

Hurricane Eta threatens flooding in Central America

(Newser) - Hurricane Eta erupted quickly into a potentially catastrophic major hurricane Monday as it headed for Central America, where forecasters warned of massive flooding and landslides across a vulnerable region, the AP reports. Eta was a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 150mph late Monday, the US National Hurricane...

Powerful New Hurricane Heads to Central America

Some places could get 25 to 35 inches of rain

(Newser) - Hurricane Eta erupted quickly into a potentially catastrophic major hurricane Monday as it headed for Central America, where forecasters warned of massive flooding and landslides across a vulnerable region. Eta had maximum sustained winds of 120mph and was located about 85 miles east of the Nicaragua-Honduras border, according to the...

Native Americans Met Another People in 1200AD
Native Americans Met
Another People in 1200AD
new study

Native Americans Met Another People in 1200AD

Indigenous Americans and Polynesians met and procreated, study says

(Newser) - Thousands of miles apart, with shared DNA—they definitely met somewhere. That's the conclusion of a new study into Indigenous Americans and Polynesians who apparently bridged the oceanic gap between them and procreated some 800 years ago, the Guardian reports. "These findings change our understanding of one of...

Roughly 33K Americans Still Can't Get Home

A traveler in Peru says his case 'was comical at first, I was laughing'

(Newser) - Some 33,000 Americans are still struggling to get back home amid the growing coronavirus pandemic, NBC News reports. Some 15,440 have already returned, but so many are stuck abroad that some are just planning to stay until the pandemic is over. "In some places, people have decided...

Mexico Breaks Up Migrant Caravan
Mexico Breaks Up
Migrant Caravan

Mexico Breaks Up Migrant Caravan

800 people were rounded up after crossing border

(Newser) - Eight hundred Central American migrants were rounded up and hauled onto buses by Mexican national guardsmen and immigration agents after crossing into the country early Thursday and walking for hours along a rural highway. The migrants had stopped for the day at a shaded crossroads when hundreds of national guard...

Over 1K Migrants Fill Bridge
Thousands of Migrants
Try Pushing Across Bridge
updated

Thousands of Migrants Try Pushing Across Bridge

Mexico closes border point after scuffle on bridge between Guatemala and Mexico

(Newser) - Mexican authorities closed a border entry point in southern Mexico on Saturday after thousands of Central American migrants tried to push their way across a bridge spanning the Suchiate River between Mexico and Guatemala, the AP reports. Normally, migrants who want to request asylum in Mexico are allowed to freely...

Administration Backtracks on Aid to Central America

Trump Had Cut Funding Over Migration

(Newser) - The Trump administration said Monday it is easing previously announced cuts in aid to the Central American nations of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala but will not allow new funding until those countries do more to reduce migrant flows to the US. The State Department said that after a review...

Migrants Glut Texas in 'Staggering' Border Scene
The Border Glut Is 'Staggering'

The Border Glut Is 'Staggering'

One analyst describes a 'system-wide collapse'

(Newser) - An unprecedented migrant wave is snarling the immigrant system and peppering the Texas-Mexico border with sad sights—like dozens of families jammed under a bridge in El Paso, the El Paso Times reports. "It's staggering," says McAllen City Manager Roy Rodriguez. "Really, we’ve never seen...

Our Path to Chocolate Started Earlier Than Thought
Our Path
to Chocolate
Started Earlier
Than Thought
study says

Our Path to Chocolate Started Earlier Than Thought

Humans were using cacao 5,400 years ago in Ecuador, study suggests

(Newser) - New research strengthens the case that people used the chocolate ingredient cacao in South America 5,400 years ago, underscoring the seed's radical transformation into today's Twix bars and M&M candies, per the AP . Tests indicate traces of cacao on artifacts from an archaeological site in Ecuador,...

Trump May Have a Plan for Blocking Migrants

He's said to be weighing executive orders

(Newser) - President Trump hasn't built his wall across America's southern border—but as a "caravan" of thousands migrants from Central America moves north through Mexico, he may try to block them with executive orders instead. Insiders tell the Washington Post that the president is considering an executive order...

Pentagon Plans to Send Hundreds of Troops to Border

Defense chief Mattis expected to sign order as migrants approach

(Newser) - President Trump on Thursday again declared the situation at the US-Mexico border a "national emergency" and promised to get the military involved. Now it appears the Pentagon is preparing to do just that. Defense chief James Mattis is expected to sign an order authorizing at least 800 troops to...

There Might Soon Be 3 US-Bound Caravans

Group plans to leave El Salvador next week, as Honduran stragglers move north

(Newser) - If the Honduran migrant caravan making its way toward to the US southern border is "the gift that keeps on giving for Donald Trump's midterm elections," as the Telegraph suggests, then a second caravan forming in El Salvador may be the bow on top. An internal report...

Migrant Caravan Re-Forms in Mexico, Marches Northward

Migrants stream across Guatemala-Mexico border, vote to keep going

(Newser) - Days after trying to break down the fence at the Guatemala-Mexico border , a mass caravan of migrants appears largely unbent in their desire to reach the United States, reports the AP . Their numbers swelled to about 5,000 overnight and at first light they set out walking toward the Mexican...

Trump Warns Mexico, Says He'll Send Military to Border

President wants caravan of migrants from Honduras to be turned away

(Newser) - President Trump said Thursday that he's ready to send the US military to the border to keep a caravan of mostly Honduran migrants out. In a series of tweets , Trump also reiterated threats to withhold financial aid to Central American nations, with particular attention to Mexico. "I must,...

Another Immigrant 'Caravan' Draws Attention of Trump
Looming Border Showdown
Is Inching Its Way North
the rundown

Looming Border Showdown Is Inching Its Way North

President warns Honduras over 'caravan' of immigrants headed toward US

(Newser) - Back in April, a "caravan" of immigrants marching across Central America toward the US border drew the attention of President Trump. Now comes round two. On Tuesday, Trump issued a warning to Honduras, where most of the immigrants in the latest group are from: "The United States has...

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