WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on a member of Guatemala’s Congress and a former presidential chief of staff in the country over alleged corruption, as Washington presses a number of Central American governments to crack down on graft.
The move was announced hours before U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was due to meet with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei to discuss an increase in Central American migration that has led to a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said it had blacklisted Felipe Alejos Lorenzana, an elected delegate in Guatemala’s Congress, and Gustavo Adolfo Alejos Cambara, who was chief of staff under former President Alvaro Colom.
“When elected officials in Guatemala pursue self-enrichment in their official duties, it is an affront to democratic principles in the region,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.
Monday’s move essentially freezes any U.S. assets of those blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.
The two men were barred last year from traveling to the United States over their involvement in significant corruption, according to the statement.
A senior U.S. official last week said the Biden administration is considering creating a task force of officials from the U.S. Justice and State Departments and other agencies to help local prosecutors fight corruption in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Ricardo Zuniga, U.S. special envoy to the three Central American nations, also told reporters the U.S. government has authority from the U.S. Congress to craft lists of officials in the region who are involved in corruption, revoke their travel visas and impose financial sanctions on them.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Paul Simao)
