WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2022) The US plans to add almost sixty high-level officials from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua to a sanctions list over corruption allegations, a leaked State Department report revealed.
The updated report the State Department plans to submit to Congress, first obtained by El Faro news agency on Friday, includes a total of 59 officials: 21 from Nicaragua, 16 from Guatemala, 15 from Honduras, and seven from El Salvador.
Sources from the Biden administration confirmed the authenticity of the updated list but said it was not an official document, according to El Faro.
However, a State Department spokesperson told Sputnik that the US has not completed its review of the next report to Congress under Section 353 of the United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act.
The Northern Triangle sanctions report, often referred to as the "Engel's List," was first published by the State Department in May of 2021, around six months after then-House Foreign Affairs chairman Eliot Engel spearheaded the passage of the legislation.
Officials and their families identified in the report could face Magnitksy Act sanctions and/or have their visas revoked, amongst other measures.
"This report includes individuals who the Secretary (of State) has determined have engaged in the relevant activity based upon credible information or allegations of the conduct at issue, from media reporting and other sources," the report said.
Among the top Names on the list from El Salvador are Economic Minister Jose Villalobo and Nuevas Ideas Party Chief of Faction Christian Guevara.
The list also includes Salvadoran Presidential Legal Adviser Javier Argueta for allegedly being behind the removal of five Supreme Court magistrates, and Presidential Press Secretary Ernesto Sanabria, accused of using his power to force opposition members into resignation.
The head of Guatemala's Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity (FECI), Rafael Curruchiche, made the list for supposedly obstructing legal processes on high-ranking officials' corruption cases, and Supreme Court magistrates Vitalina Orellana and Nery Medina for allegedly undermining democracy.
Honduras Congress Vice-President Rasel Tome is also named over accusations of embezzlement activities during his tenure with the Telecommunications Commission.
Salvadoran officials have reacted to the updated list, with Guevara himself saying he was listed because of his "laws against gangs."
"The real reason for why they sanctioned me, it's for having introduced a law to fight against the gangs, for fighting them, for declaring war to them," Guevara said via Twitter on Friday.
In recent years, US relations with Northern Triangle and Nicaragua have significantly deteriorated. The Biden administration has repeatedly accused the Salvadoran government for taking an "authoritarian" turn and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei for failing to fight corruption.
The tone of diplomatic relations between Honduras and the US is yet to be set as the country recently held elections in which leftist Xiomara Castro was declared winner.
