Photo: A demonstrator on July 4 holds a sign that reads, ‘At the ballot box, not in the courts’, to protest court interference in Guatemala’s elections [Cristina Chiquin/Reuters]
Persons from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador were all named in the US State Department release on persons knowingly engaged in actions that undermine democracy and in significant corruption.
by Marco Lopez
BELIZE CITY, Mon. July 24, 2023
Last Wednesday, the US State Department issued a report naming 39 officials from four Latin American countries whom it accuses of being involved in significant corruption and anti-democratic activity. The reports come as Guatemala’s presidential election continues to gain international notoriety for what human rights observers view as outright interference in the democratic process. The 10 Guatemalan officials include current and former judges, a current prosecutor, presidents of various public boards, and even the rector of a university.
The report named 13 officials from Nicaragua, including the current attorney general and current members of the National Assembly. In Honduras, 10 public officials were named, including former ministers, a current mayor, and heads of various public utilities; and in El Salvador 6 officials are named – including two successive presidents. The report, which names these Central American public officials was put together by order of President Joe Biden in a process overseen by Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.
Those people identified become ineligible to enter the US; their visas will be revoked. According to the report, the list allegedly identifies individuals who have knowingly undermined democratic processes or institutions and are involved in significant corruption, or obstruction of corruption investigations.
In Guatemala, just days ago the offices of Bernardo Arevalo of the Seed Movement Party were raided. Arevalo is the unexpected contender who will face former first lady Sandra Torres in a second round of voting in the presidential elections in August. Movimiento Semilla – or the Seed Movement, campaigned against what they characterized as Guatemala’s corrupt elite. Human rights groups opined that Arevalo is a threat to the Guatemalan political establishment.
The OAS has stated that persons unsatisfied with the results of the June elections have used legal pathways to introduce a “high degree of uncertainty in the elections process.”
The report highlights the concerns over democracy in Guatemala which go beyond the marred elections processes. Politically motivated prosecutions of journalists being convicted of trumped-up charges have also been highlighted in the report.
Several judges and prosecutors are accused of authorizing these witch-hunts, most notable of which is the jailing of the founder of Guatemala’s El Periodico, Jose Zamora. He was arrested on money laundering charges and in June convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. The news outlet he started in 1994 has had to close its doors as a result.
As noted in an Associated Press report dated July 19, 2023, “Corruption has been a hot button issue in Central America for years, fueling distrust in institutions and regularly cited as one of the root causes of migration to the United States, something President Joe Biden has sought to stem.”
The full report from the State Department can be found on their website.