Podcast: US Sports Mexican Nationals to Central America | The Lighthouse

This is the transcript of episode 86 of the weekly El Faro English podcast, Central America in Minutes.

ARÉVALO: There is no permanent residence, no refuge, and no one who can be considered a ‘safe third country,’ because they are all just in transit.

GRESSIER, HOST: That’s Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo, on August 19, addressing reports that more than 2,000 Mexican nationals have been deported from the United States to Guatemala in the last year.

I’m your host, Roman Gressier. On today’s episode: the US quietly deports Mexican migrants to Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica, Trump uses travel visas to punish critics and reward allies, and a former advisor to the president of Honduras is arrested in Bolivia on charges of attempted femicide.

From the studios of El Faro English, this is Central America in Minutes.

Mexican sports in Central America

According to CBS News, in the last year the Donald Trump administration has been quietly sporting Mexican migrants to Guatemala and Honduras.

Last year, the Guatemalan government signed an agreement with the US to accept deported Central Americans and migrants of other nationalities. But Arévalo framed the deal as not being the same as the controversial “safe third country” agreements of Trump’s first term.

At a press conference last week, Arévalo acknowledged the Mexican arrivals but offered no further details about this agreement with the US. He indicated that Mexican sports are transferred out of Guatemala within 24 hours, with the costs covered by the Mexican government or, in some cases, with US funding.

Mexico’s Foreign Secretary said in a statement: “The Mexican government has communicated its opposition to this practice to US authorities and reiterated that every Mexican citizen has the right to enter the country.”

The Mexican government you have requested criminal charges over the death of 17 people in US immigration custody. “This is almost entirely punitive,” Adam Isacson, a researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America, told CBS News.

Ace El Faro English has reportedsince Donald Trump returned to the White House, every country in Central America has accepted people deported by the US from third countries: Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Belize, and Nicaragua.

According to Reuters, the Honduran government’s center for returning migrants have not received any Mexican citizens, and its foreign ministry said it had no information on the matter.

But Human Rights First confirmed to Reuters the deportation of about 200 Mexicans to Honduras.

In the last two weeks, according to The Associated Press, 117 Mexicans deported from the United States arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras’s second city. The same report It also indicates that, since Trump’s return to office, Costa Rica has received at least 11 Mexican nationals.

Trump visa sanctions: carrot and stick

The United States is weaponizing its visa system to reward allies and punish critics across the Americas, recent reporting shows.

While previous US administrations used visa bans to punish foreign officials accused of corruption or undermining democratic institutions, the Trump administration has turned the visa system into a regional stick to push countries into line with its so-called “Donroe Doctrine.”

The term is the Trump administration’s spin on the Monroe Doctrine, the 19th-century policy aimed at keeping foreign powers out of the Americas. Today, Washington is using visa sanctions to reinforce US influence in the region and punish those seen as helping China or Russia expand their presence.

In Costa Rica, after two legislators criticized a 2025 presidential decree banning Huawei and other Chinese 5G vendors, the State Department revoked their US visas.

Earlier this year, five of the seven board members of the newspaper of record, La Nación, also had their visas revoked as the newspaper maintained critical coverage of former President Rodrigo Chaves, a close Trump ally in Central America.

In Panama, two politicians criticized a sweeping security agreement between their country and the United States in June 2025. Days later, they were notified that their US visas had been pulled.

Former diplomats told The New York Times that the Trump administration’s approach represents a sharp break from how Washington historically dealt with the region.

But the administration is not only punishing critics. It is also rewarding political allies. El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele has emerged as one of Trump’s closest regional allies, is a good example.

Under the Biden administration, the United States sanctioned dozens of Central American officials it considered corrupt or anti-democratic through measures associated with the Engel List.

Now, three high-profile Salvadoran officials have regained their visas. Travel records reviewed by The New York Times show that all three have entered the United States since July 2025.

Bukele’s press secretary, Ernesto Sanabria, was sanctioned in 2022 for allegedly pressing opposition officials to resign under threat of criminal charges.

Christian Guevara, leader of Bukele’s legislative caucus, was sanctioned that same year after introducing legislation criminalizing certain media coverage of gangs. He has traveled to the US three times since September 2025.

Javier Argueta, then a legal adviser to Bukele, was sanctioned in 2022 for his role in the unconstitutional removal of judicial officials in 2021.

He told The New York Times that his visa had been restored. In August 2025, I posted a photo on X while eating at a US fast-food restaurant with his family. I have added Salvadoran and American flag emojis for good measure.

Right-wing advisor arrested in Bolivia

An Argentine advisor to far-right parties in Central and South America, Fernando Cerimedo, was arrested in Bolivia on charges of attempted femicide against his partner.

Bolivian authorities found more than $40,000 dollars in his home and are also investigating him for illicit enrichment.

Cerimedo has advised figures like Javier Milei of Argentina and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil. Last November, before the elections in Honduras, he advised Nasry Asfura, the current president, whom Trump personally endorsed days before the vote.

Cerimedo confirmed to the digital outlet Contracorriente that he was behind the strategy that led Trump to explicitly back Asfura. He also said that his close relationship with Dick Morris —Trump’s 2016 election advisor— was what connected him to Trump.

When he was an advisor to Milei, the Argentine press alleged that Cerimedo had ties to former Trump advisor and lobbyist Roger Stone.

Stone was a key lobbyist behind Trump’s pardoning of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking. He also pushed for US policy in favor of the Guatemalan opposition, calling Arévalo the “Maduro of Guatemala.”

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When asked to confirm by Contracorriente, Cerimedo denied any ties to Stone. But both men were involved in the Honduran National Party lobbying in Washington.

The Argentine advisor is also known for running online troll farms boosting his clients and attacking their opponents. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum accused him of spreading fake news through social media trolls.

In an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nación, he openly admitted admitted to run troll farms but said they are a valid communications strategy. “People know they exist, so why lie? It’s better for them to know who creates and uses trolls and to understand the rules of the game,” he said.

Cerimedo was invited to the Summit for Electoral Integrity in Guatemala, an event held on Friday, August 28 by the Liga ProPatria, a far-right organization that, in 2023, supported coup efforts against the elections.

Cerimedo was evidently unable to attend. He remains in custody in Bolivia.

This episode was written by Leyrian Colon Santiago, Gabriel Labradorand Yuliana Ramazzini. Editing by Roman Gressier and sound design by Omnionn.

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