This is the transcript of episode 96 of the weekly El Faro English podcast, Central America in Minutes.
GRESSIER, HOST: On October 31, during a Halloween party at Mar-A-Lago, President Donald Trump confirmed that he spoke with the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, about the deployment of more than 2,000 troops to Haiti.
TRUMP: I did speak to him. He said that he has a big problem with Haiti. I said, look, you’re running your country. You have to do what you have to do. He had a big problem with Haiti. They kill some of his people.
GRESSIER: Bukele responded in two words on X: “Can confirm.” But it was unclear who, in their recounting, had been killed.
I’m your host, Roman Gressier. On today's episode: El Salvador deploys to Haiti outside the U.N. Gang Suppression Force. Costa Rica pulls out from talks to join the TPP-11 free-trade agreement. El Niño deepens poverty across Central America’s Dry Corridor.
From the studios of El Faro English, this is Central America in Minutes.
El Salvador military operation in Haiti
GRESSIER: On Wednesday, November 4, the Haitian National Police confirmed that they found the charred remains of a vehicle that the four Salvadoran aviation technicians were traveling in when they were attacked on October 18, reports Leyrian Colón Santiago.
Their disappearance prompted Bukele to deploy over 2,000 soldiers to Haiti, purportedly to rescue them. On November 2, the Associated Press reported that El Salvador believed them to be alive.
Bukele’s response to Trump —”can confirm”— left it unclear whether he was confirming they had spoken, that Salvadorans had died in Haiti, or both.
Podcast: El Salvador Amasses Troops in Haiti for Rescue Mission
But in an interview with the AP on Monday, November 2, the leader of one of Haiti’s most powerful criminal organizations, Joseph Wilson, claimed —without providing evidence— that they were dead. He asserted that the October 18 attack occurred while they were in the territory of another gang.
The gang leader added that he wrote the U.N. secretary-general to request a delegation to Haiti to mediate dialogue with international forces in the country.
On Tuesday, November 3, the United Nations distanced itself from El Salvador’s military buildup in the Caribbean country and confirmed that only about 200 Salvadorans deployed there currently fall under the mandate of the Gang Suppression Force.
According to the office of the U.N. secretary-general, the deployment is a bilateral matter between Haiti and El Salvador.
The office stated that “all security operations conducted in Haiti (...) must be carried out in full accordance with applicable international law.” According to U.N. rules, that includes human rights training.
That day, Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé said his government was directing foreign forces. He stressed that “the international force is not here to replace the state.”
Fils-Aimé also praised Bukele, saying that he “understands our fight” and “came to stand on the side of the Haitian people.”
Damian Merlo, Bukele’s U.S. lobbyist, told the Associated Press that Salvadoran forces are closely coordinating with the gang suppression force and the Haitian prime minister.
Merlo declined to clarify who the Salvadoran troops were reporting to or provide details on operations. “The only ones operating outside international law are the gangs,” he added.
According to the Miami Herald, Salvadoran forces started landing in Haiti before they signed a deal with the host government. What had once been a force of 125 Salvadorans working with the Gang Suppression Force has now swelled to at least 2,500.
That’s about the size of the entire U.N.-backed force before the four Salvadorans went missing.
Costa Rica ditches free trade talks
Now, on to Costa Rica. In the span of a month, President Laura Fernández, who took office in May, dismissed two cabinet ministers on accusations of insubordination.
Indiana Trejos, Minister of Foreign Trade, was sacked on October 28 for allegedly handling information in a “secretive” manner regarding Costa Rica’s negotiations to join the TPP-11, a major free-trade agreement.
After dismissing Trejos, Fernández also shelved the negotiations. Talks for Costa Rica to join the TPP-11 began under the last President Rodrigo Chaves, who is now a top cabinet minister.
The TPP-11 negotiations were initially led by Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar. But he was also dismissed on September 24, the day he was scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly.
Fernández alleged that the foreign minister had not notified her of a Shield of the Americas meeting held on September 22, which Donald Trump attended at the last minute. She accused Tovar, who attended along with other foreign ministers, of negligence.
Costa Rican newspaper of record La Nación reported that Ambassador to Washington Douglas Soto, who is also the country’s vice president, was aware of an invitation from the U.S. Embassy to attend the gathering.
Soto attended prep meetings and helped draft a declaration signed by Costa Rica that day. According to La Nación, it was agreed that each nation send at least their foreign minister.
Following Tovar’s dismissal, the president appointed Trejos as foreign minister pending the appointment of a new one. But confidence in her performance came to an end with the CPTPP negotiations.
A slate of deputy ministers have also resigned. The first to resign, just a month and a half after taking office, was Roy Thompson, the minister of Labor and Social Security. He was followed by Stephanie Chandler, the deputy minister for labor.
Fernández campaigned on a platform of “continuity” with the Rodrigo Chaves government. But now Costa Rica has now withdrawn its bid to join the TPP-11, which includes Canada, Mexico, and Chile — but conspicuously not the United States, which pulled out from the precursor treaty in 2017.
Increasing impact of El Niño
Last, El Niño ravages the Central American Dry Corridor. Families who depend on small-scale farming are losing both their food supply and their source of income.
On November 4, the Honduran government acknowledged that the effects of El Niño are more severe than expected. The capital, Tegucigalpa, has been rationing drinking water for two months.
According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, some 10 million people in the Dry Corridor depend entirely on crops for a living. Of those, two million already face food insecurity.
In Guatemala, over the next several months, rainfall is expected to drop by nearly half, with little relief before May. Poor harvests are forcing thousands of families to buy the food they normally grow, driving up debt and forcing some to migrate.
Podcast: El Niño Drought Devastates Central America
Guatemala’s disaster management agency wired $65 million dollars to the World Food Programme to purchase emergency food supplies for farmers who lost their crops to the drought.
Meanwhile, gender-based violence has also surged in the Dry Corridor. In Choluteca and Yoro, Honduras, reports of violence doubled between July and September.
A Honduran woman interviewed by Spanish newspaper El País said the food shortage fueled tensions with her husband.
“We spend more time at home, and we argue a lot. He’s stressed because he can’t harvest, and I’m stressed because the children keep asking for food, and there is none.”
In El Salvador, the Legislative Assembly declared a state of emergency on October 7 in response to the drought. It will remain in effect for six months and can be extended.
The worst damage was expected in eastern El Salvador. But the drought has also hit parts of Ahuachapán, Santa Ana, and Sonsonate, in the west of the country.
Agricultural producers estimate that farmers lost around 20 percent of crops. Late rainfall in September and October helped save some of the harvest, but the crisis is far from over.
This episode was written by Leyrian Colón Santiago, Yuliana Ramazzini, and Gabriel Labrador. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound design by Omnionn.
Listen to Central America in Minutes on the KPFA Pacifica Evening News and participating Pacifica radio stations. Or stream it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, and YouTube.