El Salvador

El Salvador’s police director and a fugitive banker are among 9 dead in a helicopter crash

El Salvador’s military says the national police director, other high-ranking police officials and a fugitive banker were among nine people killed in a military helicopter crash in a rural part of the country.

Human rights body urges El Salvador to end state of emergency

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele says security sustainable without a state of emergency

Several NGOs start a registry of disappeared persons in El Salvador as anti-gang crackdown continues

Takeaways: Harris’ approach to migration was more nuanced than critics or allies portray it

El Salvador police director and fugitive banker among nine killed in helicopter crash

El Salvador’s military says the national police director, other high-ranking police officials and a detained banker were among nine people killed in a military helicopter crash in a rural part of the country.

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11 people die in events related to heavy rains in El Salvador

Brother of Honduran missing worker in Baltimore bridge collapse is praying that he’s still alive

El Salvador gets ready to vote, but the winner is clear

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El Salvador has arrested 3,319 minors and sentenced almost 600 as part of anti-gang crackdown

A rights report says the government of El Salvador has arrested 3,319 underage suspects and sentenced 579 during the harsh 2 1/2 year-old crackdown on street gangs.

At least 261 people have died in El Salvador’s prisons under anti-gang crackdown, rights group says

The human rights organization Cristosal says at least 261 people have died in prisons in El Salvador during President Nayib Bukele’s 2 1/2-year-old crackdown on street gangs.

El Salvador’s president threatens to use gang-crackdown style tactics against price gougers

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, famous for his heavy-handed crackdown on street gangs, has threatened to use similar tactics against price gougers.

Calls for Berhalter to step down from USMNT are growing. Here are possible candidates to replace him

Jürgen Klopp, Thierry Henry and Marcelo Bielsa are among those being speculated about as candidates to take over from Gregg Berhalter as U.S. coach ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

El Salvador death toll rises to 19 as heavy rains continue

The death toll from torrential rains and landslides in El Salvador has risen to 19. The number includes six victims from Friday when two girls and four adults died after being buried in their homes.

Deaths, drownings and destruction as heavy rains move through Central America. 3 killed in Guatemala

Authorities say three young men have died in a drowning in Guatemala when two of them tried to help another.

7 people die in events related to heavy rains in El Salvador

Seven people have died in separate events in El Salvador that authorities attributed to heavy rains that have persisted since the weekend.

A recently elected mayor is shot and killed in southern Mexico

A recently elected mayor has been shot and killed in southern Mexico, in the state of Guerrero. The Guerrero state prosecutor’s office said Salvador Villalva Flores was on a bus was he was fatally shot in the head early on Monday in the town of San Pedro las Playas.

Honduras plans to build a 20,000-capacity ‘megaprison’ for gang members as part of a crackdown

The president of Honduras has announced the creation of a new 20,000-capacity “megaprison.” The plan is part of the government’s larger crackdown on a wave of gang violence.

2 teens are killed when a bedroom wall collapses after heavy rains on an island in El Salvador

Two teenagers have been killed by a landslide during heavy rains when their bedroom wall collapsed on an island in El Salvador.

US dampens criticism of El Salvador’s president as migration overtakes democracy concerns

The Biden administration has sent a high-level delegation to El Salvador to attend President Nayib Bukele’s inauguration to a second term.

El Salvador says it foiled a plot to plant bombs on the day of President Bukele’s inauguration

El Salvador says it has foiled a plot to plant bombs around the country to coincide with President Nayib Bukele’s inauguration on Saturday.

El Salvador’s congress approves changes to reform constitution, a move critics call anti-democratic

El Salvador’s Congress, which is controlled by President Nayib Bukele New Ideas party, approved a change to an article of the Constitution to facilitate larger constitutional reforms without having to wait until after the election of a new legislature.

El Salvador’s Bukele releases father of soccer player from prison after son’s plea on social media

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has released the father of a Salvadoran soccer player from prison after the athlete published a plea for his release on social media.

Man gets 37-year sentence for kidnapping FBI employee in South Dakota

One of three people convicted of carjacking and kidnapping an FBI employee in South Dakota has been sentenced to 37 years in prison.

At least 241 people have died in El Salvador’s prisons during the ‘war on gangs,’ rights group says

The rights group Humanitarian Legal Relief says at least 241 people have died in El Salvador prisons since the start of President Nayib Bukele’s “war on gangs” two years ago.

Central American and Mexican families mourn the workers lost in the Baltimore bridge collapse

The workers lost in the Baltimore bridge collapse all hailed from Mexico or Central America before they settled in the Maryland area.

El Salvador extends anti-gang emergency decree for 24th time. It’s now been in effect for two years

El Salvador’s lawmakers have granted a request by President Nayib Bukele for the 24th consecutive one-month extension of an anti-gang emergency decree.

El Salvador’s former leftist strongholds contemplate party’s demise

San José Las Flores, a town nestled in the mountains of northern El Salvador, near the Honduras border, has been a bastion of leftist resistance for decades.

Can conservative Latin American populists motivate the Hispanic vote? Republicans are counting on it

In this U.S. election year, the Republican Party is aligning with some Latin American populists. It’s a way of injecting star power and the political landscape of immigrants’ home countries into this year’s campaign for president.

El Salvador’s president gets rock-star welcome at conservative gathering outside Washington

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has received a rock-star welcome at a conservative gathering outside Washington as he urged people to “unapologetically fight” against what he called “dark forces.”

Argentina to play exhibitions against El Salvador and Nigeria in the U.S., replacing China tour

Argentina scheduled exhibitions against El Salvador and Nigeria in the United States next month as part of Copa America preparations, replacing a China tour canceled after Lionel Messi didn’t play at Inter Miami’s preseason game in Hong Kong.

El Salvador’s Bukele wins supermajority in Congress after painstaking vote count

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and his New Ideas party have won the supermajority the leader needs in Congress to govern as he pleases.

The president jailed 1% of El Salvador’s population. Their children are paying the consequences

El Salvador’s social services agency says more than 40,000 children have had one parent or both detained in President Nayib Bukele’s nearly two-year war on gangs.

AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean

Feb. 2 – 8, 2024

Deadly wildfires devastated the Chilean city of Viña del Mar, burning homes to the ground, flipping cars and leaving scores of dead and missing people.

El Salvador opposition warns it may ask to nullify congressional election results

As El Salvador’s electoral body begins a vote-by-vote count of the country’s elections last week, the political opposition warned they could ask to nullify results of the legislative elections due to irregularities.

‘Coolest dictator’ to ‘philosopher king,’ Nayib Bukele’s path to reelection in El Salvador

El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele has called himself the “world’s coolest dictator” or as his X profile read on election day, the “Philosopher King.”

El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele takes aim at critics in looking ahead to 2nd presidential term

El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele is savoring what appears to be a landslide presidential reelection victory. And he’s railing against the press and international critics.

Salvadorans celebrating expected reelection of ‘world’s coolest dictator’ as their president

Salvadorans are packing the capital’s central square to celebrate the expected reelection of Nayib Bukele as president even before any official results from Sunday’s election have been announced.

El Salvador’s Bukele has everyone’s attention as he seeks reelection in spite of the constitution

To many, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is a national hero who took on the country’s violent gangs with an unrelenting hand.