Central America
Sons of Panama ex-president released from US jail
January 25 | By AFP |
Two sons of former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli were released from prison in the United States Wednesday after serving sentences for corruption linked to the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, authorities said.
Luis Enrique and Ricardo Martinelli were released slightly ahead of completing their three-year terms because of good behavior, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons told AFP.
The brothers admitted receiving $28 million in bribes from the disgraced construction group, of which $19 million had passed through US accounts.
They pleaded guilty in December 2021 after being extradited from Guatemala to the United States.
In May last year, they were sentenced to three years behind bars. They served two and a half years in total, including time already spent in detention in Guatemala and the United States before their conviction.
A judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the men would be sent back to Panama following their release from a prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.
They are likely to be arrested in Panama where they — along with their father — face criminal charges of money laundering and graft.
Their defense attorney, Carlos Carrillo, told AFP that the two brothers had paid $14 million in bond to the Panamanian judiciary to remain free while their cases work their way through the courts.
Odebrecht admitted in 2016 that it and affiliated entities had paid $788 million in bribes in efforts between 2001 and 2016 to win contracts for some 100 projects in Panama and 11 other countries. It agreed to pay US authorities $3.5 billion in penalties.
Martinelli, 70, who governed Panama from 2009 to 2014, seeks to run for his nation’s presidency again in 2024 even though he has been summoned to stand trial on money laundering charges.
Central America
Arévalo calls corruption the “fuel of inequality” and reaffirms commitment to public transparency
Guatemala’s President, Bernardo Arévalo, stated on Friday that corruption is “the food of misery” in his country and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to continuing to strengthen public spending transparency.
During the first anniversary of the National Commission Against Corruption (CNC) established by his administration, the president expressed his satisfaction with the progress made.
“The road has been difficult,” he said, “but I am greatly satisfied with the fight against corruption, which is the fuel of inequality and the food of misery,” the president declared before members of the international community and government officials.
Arévalo also mentioned that the people who elected him in 2023 for a four-year term that began on January 14, 2024, “demand that we combat corruption.”
Central America
Zúñiga hopes CIDH experts can help investigate intellectual authors of Berta Cáceres’ murder
Bertha Zúñiga, daughter of the murdered Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres, expressed her hope on Friday to EFE that the expert group appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) will help investigate the authorship of the crime to “heal the wounds” and rebuild the social fabric in indigenous communities affected by the hydroelectric project her mother opposed.
The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) represents an “effort to exhaust the investigations” into the responsibilities of all individuals involved in Cáceres’ murder, as well as in the “violence suffered” from the implementation of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, led by the company Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA), emphasized Zúñiga.
“We hope that, with the collaboration of the prosecutorial entities, (the experts) will effectively collaborate to move forward on what we have proposed and demanded for many years: formally requiring the intellectual authors of this crime and analyzing the related crimes,” including corruption and other violations, as well as proposing a comprehensive reparation plan for the victims of the hydroelectric project,” Zúñiga explained.
The CIDH appointed a group of four experts from Argentina, Chile, the United States, and Guatemala on Friday to provide technical assistance to Honduras in investigating the intellectual authorship of Cáceres’ murder, which occurred on March 2, 2016, while she was sleeping in her home in La Esperanza, despite the multiple death threats she had reported due to her opposition to the Agua Zarca project.
Central America
Nicaragua’s family confinement program: 7.18% of released prisoners reoffend
Nicaraguan authorities have released a total of 48,964 common prisoners under the family confinement regime over the past ten years, with 7.18% of them reoffending by committing at least one crime, according to the country’s vice president, Rosario Murillo.
Murillo, who is also the wife of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and appointed “co-president” in a reform to the Constitution, stated through official media that “7.18% are individuals who have reoffended in criminal activity from 2015 to today, February 14, 2025.”
This means that 3,515 out of the 48,964 common prisoners with final sentences who have been granted family confinement privileges have returned to criminal activity, according to the report.
The early release of common prisoners has faced criticism, particularly from feminist organizations, who argue that these benefits have contributed to an increase in femicides and general crime in Nicaragua.
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