Crackdown tactics emerging from El Salvador’s Casa Presidencial and the U.S. White House have something in common: the willingness to sow fear and enact cruelty onto a population deemed criminal or expendable.

President Rodrigo Chaves avoided the lifting of his immunity amid a corruption probe, but the head of state now faces a new accusation of interference in the upcoming election. Nayib Bukele made a cameo in a video publicized by the administration, throwing his support behind Chaves’ political project as one of “safety and prosperity.”

It can be said about El Salvador like it can be said about Honduras: There is evidence that all three political machines of the last three decades secretly partnered with organized crime for their political benefit.

In El Salvador, financial asphyxiation, intimidation, and the new Foreign Agents Law threaten university stability. In Guatemala, lawfare against students and electoral fraud at the public university reflect the decay of the political system. Nicaragua is the most brazen: Under a grinding assault on freedoms, university autonomy no longer exists.

After the murder of Roberto Samcam, a prominent Nicaraguan exile, the Costa Rican president has remained silent, while victims of persecution accuse the Nicaraguan regime of running intelligence operations out of its Embassy. The investigation highlights the threat faced by Nicaraguan dissidents and reflects rising insecurity within Costa Rica.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of 18 current and former members of El Faro in a major international spyware lawsuit against NSO Group, the Israel-based developer and vendor of Pegasus software. The judges reversed a March 2024 dismissal and sent the case back to the Northern District of California.