A recent change in the judge overseeing asset forfeiture cases in Guatemala has accelerated the return of seized properties to individuals accused of corruption and drug trafficking. Among the former officials who have benefited are former Communications Minister Alejandro Sinibaldi; former President Otto Pérez Molina; former FCN-Nación lawmaker Herber Melgar Padilla; and former presidential candidate Manuel Baldizón.

According to a special report published by the Diario de Centro América, a turning point occurred between April and July 2024 in the handling of assets confiscated under suspicion of corruption or organized crime. The report indicates that, following the removal of the head of the Asset Forfeiture Court, rulings began to shift, and properties previously under state control were returned to former officials facing criminal proceedings.

In a move widely criticized by analysts and legal experts, Marco Antonio Villeda—now serving as Minister of the Interior—was transferred after more than 10 years from the Asset Forfeiture Court to the Eighth Criminal Court. His replacement, Jaime Delmar González Marín, had previously issued rulings favorable to relatives of former President Jimmy Morales.

Since then, several political figures and ex-officials accused of corruption—including Sinibaldi, Pérez Molina, Melgar Padilla, Baldizón, and Miguel Martínez, a senior official in the previous administration—have regained access to seized assets.

During Villeda’s tenure, authorities froze six properties, bank accounts, and two helicopters linked to former President Pérez Molina; land and deposits worth at least 60 million quetzales connected to Sinibaldi; and a building in Guatemala City’s Zone 15 tied to Baldizón.

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These developments are reflected in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ 2025 Report on the Human Rights Situation in Guatemala, which concludes that there has been a “shift in approach to asset forfeiture proceedings.”

For experts such as Juan Francisco Sandoval, former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), Villeda’s transfer was not “a mere temporal coincidence,” but rather an event that occurred “at a moment when efforts were underway to reconfigure institutional structures and centers of control.”

Honduras remained on edge this Friday as the presidential election vote count continued, with a technical tie persisting between right-wing candidates Nasry Asfura, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, and Salvador Nasralla, five days after the election.

The vote tally has progressed slowly, with interruptions and amid fraud allegations from Nasralla, the 72-year-old television host and candidate of the Liberal Party (PL).
“The world is already talking about the fraud they are trying to commit against” the Liberal Party, Nasralla wrote on X, as he denounced irregularities in the uploading of vote tally sheets into the system and announced legal challenges.

With 88% of the polling station records counted, Asfura of the conservative National Party (PN) leads with 40.20%, while Nasralla follows closely with 39.47%, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Around 2,000 tally sheets with inconsistencies will also undergo a special review. Nasralla has questioned whether the CNE will be able to deliver final results before December 30, the legal deadline for announcing the official outcome.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández expressed his gratitude on Wednesday to U.S. President Donald Trump after being pardoned on Monday following more than three years in a New York prison, where he had been sentenced in 2024 to 45 years for drug trafficking and firearms offenses.

Hernández thanked Trump on social media platform X, stating: “President Trump, thank you for listening and responding when it was most needed. You saw the injustice committed against me and my country and corrected it. Your support for Honduras, your leadership, and your timely decision meant everything to my freedom and my nation. You have my respect and gratitude forever.”

In his message, Hernández began by saying: “THANK GOD. All glory be to Him. I am a free man. I said it when I left my home, I said it when I was unjustly convicted, and I say it today as I regain my freedom. I am innocent.”

He also expressed deep appreciation to his family and friends who “never stopped fighting and praying” for him, while blaming, as Trump had, the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden for his conviction. Hernández described his trial as a manipulated process orchestrated by the Biden-Harris administration and the deep state, claiming there was no real evidence, only accusations from criminals seeking revenge.

Hernández was extradited to the U.S. in April 2022 and sentenced in June 2024. His wife, Ana García, told EFE that Hernández had written to Trump on October 28, his 57th birthday, requesting a pardon, which Trump granted. García added that the couple has not yet decided whether Hernández will return to Honduras, where he could face investigations for alleged corruption, according to Attorney General Johel Zelaya.

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