Central America
El Salvador’s former presidents on U.S. Corrupt List
July 20 |
Former presidents Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sánchez Cerén, three former officials of Banco Hipotecario and Miguel Menéndez, known as Mecafé, were included in the list of corrupt actors, known as the Engel List, which was updated and published on Wednesday by the US State Department.
Both former presidents are being prosecuted for the diversion of funds from the secret item 54315 “reserved expenses” of the Presidency of the Republic. In the Funes administration the secret item amounted to $351.02 million and in the Sanchez Ceren administration it amounted to $187 million.
Also included were the former president of Banco Hipotecario, Carlos Alberto Ortiz; the former vice president of Banco Hipotecario, Carlos Enrique Cruz Arana; and the former compliance officer of Banco Hipotecario, Jolman Alexander Ayala, for having laundered millions of dollars and having received bribes, according to the US report.
The sixth mentioned in the list is the former president of the International Center of Fairs and Conventions (Cifco), Miguel Menéndez, close to former President Funes, accused by the US State Department of awarding a contract to a Guatemalan businessman in exchange for an airplane as a bribe. For this case Funes, who already has two prison sentences of 14 and 6 years in prison, will face trial in El Salvador.
Central America
Venezuelan opposition leader to meet Costa Rican president Rodrigo Chaves on thursday
Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia will meet with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves this Thursday, the Presidential Office of Costa Rica announced today.
“We will give a warm welcome to the person who won the July elections in Venezuela, and we continue to denounce electoral fraud,” President Chaves stated during his weekly press conference.
Meanwhile, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Arnoldo André explained that González Urrutia is visiting Costa Rica to “inform the president and provide details about the situation in Venezuela, the victory he achieved with over 7 million votes on July 28, and the electoral fraud committed by Nicolás Maduro’s regime, which fraudulently swore him in as president.”
González Urrutia is currently in Guatemala, having arrived from the Dominican Republic as part of a tour through several countries ahead of the controversial inauguration on January 10, during which the Chavista leader Nicolás Maduro was sworn in as president by the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling party.
Central America
President Arévalo highlights anti-corruption and drug trafficking efforts in first year report
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo de León highlighted this Tuesday the progress made in the fight against corruption and drug trafficking as cornerstones of his first year at the helm of the Guatemalan government, during a session in Congress.
“We are in a process of transformation, but the commitment must be focused on eradicating the corruption that has oppressed us for so long,” said the president during the presentation of his first government report.
Arévalo de León urged lawmakers to “work together for structural change” in the country and thanked the president of the Legislative Body, Nery Ramos, for their joint efforts in the approval of various laws and the alliances formed during 2024.
The Guatemalan president highlighted as an achievement of his administration the denunciation of dozens of corruption structures embedded in state entities, such as fraud networks involving businessmen and former officials.
Central America
Honduras arrests former military leaders over 2009 killings
Former Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Honduras, General Romeo Vásquez, was arrested on Sunday as the alleged person responsible for the 2009 killings of two individuals by military personnel, just days after leading the coup against former President Manuel Zelaya.
Along with him, the Deputy Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Venancio Cervantes, and the former commander of the Joint Operations Command were also detained, according to the Secretary of State for Security (Interior), Gustavo Sánchez, on his social media account X.
“The three arrests were made moments ago by the Honduran Police in coordination with the Public Ministry in Tegucigalpa and La Paz (west),” Sánchez said.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office had issued an arrest warrant for the three ex-military officials “on charges of homicide and aggravated assault” against Obed Murillo and Alex Zavala, who were attacked by “members of the Armed Forces,” according to the Public Ministry.
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