Historic shift in U.S. policy divides federal agencies and Trump administration over how to address gang violence
The Intercept, October 2018. With Cora Currier. Leia em português. Oswaldo joined the Salvadoran gang Barrio 18 when he was 14 years old. By the time he was in his … Continue reading
Justice, from Colombia to Central America
The Los Angeles Review of Books, August 2018. A brick wall, the first layer of the barrier, encircles most of a city block on an unassuming street in Guatemala City. … Continue reading
Deported into a Nightmare
The Atlantic, June 2018, Honduras. Edwin Vásquez, a 16-year-old, is learning how to live with fear. One afternoon last fall, as he played soccer on a field near his house … Continue reading
The Rise of the Net Center: Anti-corruption efforts in Guatemala vs. an army of trolls
The Intercept, April 2018. With Cora Currier. En Español aquí. At 6:02 A.M. on August 27, 2017, the president of Guatemala, Jimmy Morales, uploaded a video statement to Twitter declaring the former Colombian … Continue reading
El Salvador’s “iron fist” crackdown on gangs: A lethal policy with US origins
World Politics Review, Feb 2018. Editor’s Note: In July 2019, this story received an Honorable Mention by the National Press Club for the Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence, which … Continue reading
The corruption beneath the 2017 Honduran election chaos
The Intercept, December 2017. On the night of December 2, 2017, a Honduran woman in the rural province of Olancho was protesting what she saw as a stolen election. The woman, … Continue reading
The cancellation of CAM, a refugee program for Central American children
The Intercept, November 2017. With Cora Currier. The State Department announced Wednesday evening the abrupt cancellation of a program that gave youth fleeing violence in Central America the chance to apply for … Continue reading
In El Salvador, controversy over increase in minimum wage
Equal Times, June 2017. En español, français. The municipality of Santo Tomas, El Salvador, absorbs the impacts of the maquila industry like a human body. Its daily routine ebbs and flows with the … Continue reading
Art as a passport in a city of borders
Huck Magazine, May 2017. Photos by Fred Ramos of El Faro. Ivonne Reyes steps out of the house she rents near central San Salvador. The dark-haired 25-year-old flags down … Continue reading
Deported to El Salvador
The Intercept, May 2017. See accompanying film by Leighton Akio Woodhouse and Pedro Armando Aparicio here. Thousands of miles from his home and family, Jose Escobar lives in a small … Continue reading
