La Bestia is the popular name for the freight train that as many as a half-million Central American migrants a year ride during a perilous journey through Mexico to the United States border. The exhibit, organized by the Colectivo de Artistas contra la Discriminación (Artists Collective against Discrimination) explores that experience through art and poetry, the center says in an announcement.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed drastically slashing U.S. foreign aid spending in Mexico and Central America, which are struggling with drug violence, graft and poverty.  2018 Mexican aid of $87.66 million, down more than 45 percent from the 2016 outlay. The budget proposes scrapping most U.S. money for the Mexican military, along with counterterrorism funds and some governance programs. In Guatemala, U.S. aid would drop almost 40 percent from 2016, to $80.66 million, while in Honduras and El Salvador it would fall nearly a third.

President Tsai Ing-wen arrived Jan 12. in El Salvador on the final leg of her nine-day tour of four Republic of China (Taiwan) Central American diplomatic allies [...] According to Tsai, her visit is made in the spirit of mutual assistance, and she anticipates Taiwan and El Salvador jointly developing more plans and projects en route to expanding cultural, economic and people-to-people exchanges.

In the last few weeks the Catalan Government has carried out some activities to boost and expand its economic relationships with Japan and Central America. [...] In its third edition, this strategy includes business promotion, investment attraction, tourism cooperation, student mobility and cultural and gastronomic exchanges.

Paúl is one of 10 DACA beneficiaries who spent this month visiting Mexico as part of a cultural exchange program co-sponsored by the Dallas-based Latino Center for Leadership Development and the Mexican government. It’s an ongoing program that seeks to reconnect young DREAMers with their native country, in a way similar to how Jewish advocacy groups sponsor youth trips to Israel.