Americas, 8-17-23

For today, links to reports from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Click HERE and HERE or scroll further down for today’s earlier entries in this blog.) — MCM

   

The runoff presidential election in Guatemala will be held this weekend. Reported by Michel Martin and Eyder Peralta | NPR Guatemalans vote in an election that could determine whether the country addresses long-running impunity for its elites or continues its descent into corruption and violence. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

   

Nicaraguan government seizes highly regarded university from Jesuits. From AP. MEXICO CITY — Nicaragua’s government has confiscated a prestigious Jesuit-run university alleging it was a “center of terrorism,” the college said Wednesday in announcing the latest in a series of actions by authorities against the Catholic Church and opposition figures. The University of Central America in Nicaragua, which was a hub for 2018 protests . . . READ MORE . . .

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Nicaragua judge orders seizure of top Jesuit-run university, by Ismael Lopez | Reuters  A Nicaraguan judge has ordered the confiscation of all assets belonging to a prestigious Jesuit-run university, the college announced, as the government’s crackdown on Catholic clergy and church-affiliated institutions intensifies. In a letter dated Tuesday and addressed to the university community, the . . . READ MORE . . .

   

Patrick Hamilton, ex-AP and Reuters photographer who covered Central American wars, dies at 74, by Susana Hayward | AP  SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Patrick Hamilton, a combat veteran of the Vietnam War who covered civil wars in Central America as a photojournalist for The Associated Press and later worked at Reuters covering the first Gulf War in Iraq, has died after a long struggle with cancer. He died at age 74 Sunday at home in San Antonio. Hamilton’s experience in Vietnam served him well in Central America during the 1980s and then . . . READ MORE . . .