US deports former Guatemalan presidential candidate

After pleading guilty to the crime of money laundering before the Southern District of Florida and spending more than 20 months in the McRae Correctional Facility in Georgia, United States, the former candidate for the presidency of Guatemala, Manuel Antonio Baldizón Méndez, returned to his country on a deportee flight.

His arrival had already been confirmed by the politician’s own children last week and this Wednesday he arrived on a flight from Mesa, Arizona, along with 130 other Guatemalans who were returned to their country, after noon, local time.

At the time of his arrival, the corresponding immigration control was carried out and he was left in the custody of the National Civil Police and the Public Ministry because he had arrest warrants in two cases.

According to the MP’s spokesman, Juan Luis Pantaleón, this is the “Transurbano” case in which he is accused of the crimes of illicit electoral financing, unregistered electoral financing and money laundering; Y the “Odebrecht” case where he is accused of the crimes of active bribery, money laundering and illicit association.

The former president was captured in January 2018 at the Miami International Airport and was imprisoned since September 1, 2020. The Prosecutor’s Office indicated that Baldizón “accepted campaign contributions knowing that they were being made by drug traffickers and that they were profits from drug trafficking,” in addition to carrying out financial transactions such as the purchase of properties in Miami with that money.

Despite the sentence that was imposed on him, 50 months in prison, was released on June 7 last according to information from the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Moments after setting foot on Guatemalan soil, he was transferred to the headquarters of the Judicial Branch where the reasons for his arrest were announced and the hearing for the first statement in the Transurbano case was scheduled for Friday, October 7.

Finally, he was sent to the Mariscal Zavala military barracks and at the request of his defense, arguing risk to his physical integrity, he was authorized to remain in an isolated area.

Manuel Antonio Baldizón was a candidate for the disappeared LIDER party twice, in 2011 and 2015, without managing to reach the presidency of the Central American country.

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