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Central America

March

Donald Trump addresses Congress.

How billionaire elites answered Trump’s call on Panama

Li Ka-shing, Larry Fink and Adebayo Ogunlesi picked up the phone and struck a $36 billion deal to take over 43 ports within weeks.

A cargo ship traverses the Panama Canal.

BlackRock buys Hutchison’s Panama ports in victory for Trump

The president had argued without evidence that China had taken over the critical waterway and that the US was paying too much for the passage of ships.

February

Marco Rubio, right, waves after being welcomed by Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha upon his arrival at the presidential palace in Panama City.

Rubio tells Panama that Trump wants the Chinese out

The US secretary of state told the Panamanian president that it must reduce China’s control over the canal or face retaliation from the White House.

January

President Donald Trump salutes during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

In Pictures: Trump inauguration 2025

Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president in a room packed with former presidents, business leaders and celebrities.

January 2024

The case for Trump – by someone who wants him to lose

You can’t defeat a political opponent if you refuse to understand what makes him formidable. Trump got three big things right — or at least more right than wrong.

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July 2023

Bandaged hands of a worker in a coca field in San Miguel, Putumayo, Colombia.

Cocaine growers in Colombia give up as crop price plunges 75pc

The price of coca, the key commodity used to make cocaine, has plunged this year in Colombia thanks to oversupply and the growth of production in other countries.

January 2022

Jane Fraser: “Mexico is a priority market for Citi – that will not change.”

Citi to exit Mexico retail banking, its biggest branch network

The move comes after the CEO last year announced she would exit 13 markets across Asia and Europe as part of her push to simplify Citigroup.

November 2021

Prince Charles with Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley at COP26 earlier this month.

Prince Charles farewells Barbados as it adopts rejected Aussie model

Barbadians’ move to ditch the Queen for a president elected by MPs leaves just 14 countries, other than the UK, with the British monarch as head of state.

An avatar of President Nayib Bukele is projected on to a LED screen during the closing ceremony of a congress for cryptocurrency investors in Santa Maria Mizata, El Salvador, at the weekend.

El Salvador’s ‘bitcoin bonds’ plan falls flat with fund managers

Emerging markets fund managers expressed little interest in buying the new bonds, which El Salvador plans to issue next year with an annual coupon of 6.5 per cent.

An avatar of President Nayib Bukele is projected on to a LED screen during the closing ceremony of a congress for cryptocurrency investors in Santa Maria Mizata, El Salvador, at the weekend.

El Salvador plans ‘bitcoin city’ powered by volcano

President Nayib Bukele said the city would have no property, income or capital gains taxes. Its infrastructure and other costs will be funded by a sales tax and money raised by the bond issues.

September 2021

A girl rides on her father’s shoulders as they cross the Rio Grande to collect supplies for a migrant camp in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.

Feeling trapped, migrants’ fears grow in Mexican border city

After more than a week at this crossing on the US-Mexico border, Haitian migrants feel like the walls are beginning to close in on them.

A customer uses a Chivo bitcoin automated teller machine in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Crypto swoon over tiny El Salvador much ado about nothing

Local opposition to President Nayib Bukele’s bitcoin plan is widespread, suggesting take-up will be low. A damp squib is more likely than the financial dislocation some critics are prophesying.

El Salvador’s world-first adoption of bitcoin endures bumpy first day

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele complained that the government-backed bitcoin app was not available on various internet platforms, including Apple and Huawei.

Bitcoin accepted at this business in Zonte Beach, El Salvador.

El Salvador becomes a crypto laboratory with bitcoin gamble

Twenty years after it adopted the US dollar as its national currency, the tiny Central American nation is about to officially become the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal tender.

August 2021

People cry during the search for those who are still missing after Haiti’s latest earthquake.

‘I’m the only surgeon’: After Haiti quake, thousands seek scarce care

With just a few dozen doctors available in a region that is home to 1 million people, the quake aftermath was turning increasingly dire.

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People gather outside the Petit Pas Hotel, destroyed by the earthquake in Les Cayes.

Quake kills hundreds in Haiti, worsening Caribbean nation’s plight

The earthquake comes just over a month after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, which deepened the country’s political turmoil.

July 2021

Police abandon their vehicle during a demonstration that turned violent in Cap-Haitien on Thursday.

Protests demand justice for Haiti’s slain president

Foreign dignitaries are flying to Haiti from around the Americas to pay their respects to Jovenel Moise, who was was gunned down in his home in Port-au-Prince this month.

Cuban exiles rally in Miami’s Little Havana neighbourhood on July 12 in support of protesters in Cuba.

US imposes sanctions on Cuban officials after protest crackdown

President Joe Biden faces increasing pressure from Congress, activist groups and Cuban Americans to take decisive action in support of protesters on the island.

People attend a pro-government rally in Havana, Cuba, at the weekend.

Cuban government rallies backers following week of protests

President Miguel Díaz-Canel made an impassioned speech blaming unrest on the US and its economic embargo.

Members of the “Gran Caravana” (Big Caravan), pass the Cuba-centric San Carlos Institute in Key West, Florida, on Wednesday rallying support for the Cuban people.

United in pain: young Cuban activists take fight across generations

The protests reflect what some see as a changing of the guard – the young demonstrators believe they can win the fight started by their parents and grandparents.

While the streets of Port-au-Prince were calm on Sunday, government officials worry about what lies ahead and have requested US and UN military assistance.

Florida resident detained as latest suspect in Haiti killing

Police have identified the man as Christian Emmanuel Sanon and say Jovenel Moïse’s alleged killers were protecting him as the supposed president of Haiti.

he Haitian flag flies at half-mast at the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday.

Americans among arrests, as Haiti asks for US troops

Haiti’s interim government asked for US troops to be deployed to stop the country descending into chaos after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise are detained in Port-au-Prince.

Ex-Colombian military, Haitian Americans suspected in assassination

Colombia’s Defence Minister said initial findings indicated that the Colombian suspects were retired members of his country’s armed forces.

Soldiers patrol in Petion Ville, the neighbourhood where the late Haitian President Jovenel Moise lived in Port-au-Prince.

Haiti’s future even more uncertain after brazen slaying of president

The assassination of Jovenel Moïse stunned a nation grappling with some of the western hemisphere’s highest poverty, violence and political instability.

An ambulance carrying the body of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise drives past a mural featuring him near the leader’s residence where he was killed by gunmen.

Haiti police battle gunmen who killed president, amid fears of chaos

The police had killed four of the ‘mercenaries’ and captured two more, Police General Director Leon Charles said in televised comments.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/world/central-america