Panama

The government approved a new contract with the mine late last week. Since then, protests have rippled across Panama, and people are afraid they could bring the country to a standstill.

Saturday’s solar eclipse cut across the western United States, dipping down into parts of Mexico, Central America, Colombia, and Brazil. It was Panama’s first eclipse in 25 years and it came at an auspicious time when scientists are promoting an interest in astronomy. 

In El Salvador, thousands of people have been imprisoned over the past 15 months, including dozens of international visitors, as the government tries to stop gang violence through a law known as the “state of exception.”

The US government changed the rules governing how people can seek asylum at the US-Mexico border last week, as a pandemic-era policy called Title 42 expired. Although it may become more difficult, thousands of people are still making their way from South America to the US border, including migrants from all over the world. Some are making their way through the Darien Gap, a dangerous jungle that separates Colombia and Panama.

In the small village of Capurgana, at the entrance to the Darién jungle and near Colombia’s border with Panama, hundreds of villagers now work as guides and porters leading migrants across the rainforest.