By: Staff Writer
July 21, 2023
The US State Department sanctioned tens of officials in Central America in a wave that hit four countries.
The State Department, in its Corrupt and Undemocratic Actors Report, targeted officials in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.
Two former Salvadoran presidents top the list. Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena, a former president of El Salvador, engaged in significant corruption by orchestrating and participating in several schemes involving bribery, embezzlement, and money laundering while president, pilfering hundreds of millions of dollars from state coffers.
The report also said Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a former president and vice president of El Salvador, was engaged in significant corruption by laundering money during his tenure as vice president, personally receiving more than $1.3m in public funds in exchange, and participated in a scheme to divert $183 million in public funds away from public accounts and oversight into personal accounts while serving as president.
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.
It has become a key talking point in Guatemala’s current tumultuous election cycle as the political establishment attempts to quash competition, and it frequents the discourse of populist El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who has adopted the catchphrase “there’s enough money when no one steals it.”
Despite accusations by the Biden administration that Bukele also negotiated with gangs, and civil society raising alarms that the millennial leader has been taking steps that eat away at the country’s democracy, Bukele’s name was not on the list of those sanctioned.
Funes, the ex-president of El Salvador, raged against the sanctions on Twitter, saying sanctioning El Salvador’s two previous leaders from the same party that Bukele once broke with “is a clear backing by the U.S. for Bukele’s election.”
He called U.S. criticisms of Bukele’s plan to seek re-election “lukewarm” despite the move being a clear violation of their country’s constitution. He suggested that it was “convenient” for the U.S. for Bukele to continue in office.
Another notable name on the list is Wendy Carolina Morales Urbina, the current Nicaraguan attorney general, who the State Department said undermined democratic processes or institutions, using the office of the attorney general to facilitate a coordinated campaign to suppress dissent, by confiscating property from the government’s political opponents without a legal basis. Urbina has also seized property from thousands of nongovernmental organisations under laws explicitly designed to suppress freedom of association.
Consistent with Section 353(b) of the United States – Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act (22 U.S.C. 2277a(b)) (the Act), as amended, this report is being submitted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Committee on the Judiciary, and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Section 353(b) requires the submission of a report that identifies the following persons: foreign persons who the President has determined have knowingly engaged (1) in actions that undermine democratic processes or institutions; (2) in significant corruption; and (3) in obstruction of investigations into such acts of corruption, in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, including the following: corruption related to government contracts; bribery and extortion; the facilitation or transfer of the proceeds of corruption, including through money laundering; and acts of violence, harassment, or intimidation directed at governmental and nongovernmental corruption investigators. On June 21, 2021, the President delegated his authority under Section 353 to the Secretary of State.
Under Section 353, foreign persons identified in the report submitted to Congress are generally ineligible for visas and admission to the United States. Any current visa shall be revoked immediately, and any other valid visa or entry documentation cancelled. Consistent with Section 353(g), this report will be published in the Federal Register.