Who are the 39 Central American officials mentioned in the Engel List?

The State Department added this Wednesday to its list of “corrupt” and “undemocratic” people, better known as the Engel List, at least 39 Central Americans accused of various crimes such as corruption and undemocratic practices.

The people added to the list are from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua and include former presidents, judges, prosecutors and academics.

Who are they and what are they accused of? We explain it below.

The Savior

Mauricio Funes, former president

The first left-wing president in El Salvador with the FMLN party, between 2009 and 2014. This year he was sentenced to prison for illegal groups and breach of duty after negotiating with gangs in his government. In addition, was sentenced in another process for the crime of tax evasion.

However, Funes is not serving a sentence because, since 2019, Daniel Ortega granted him the Nicaraguan nationalitya fact that makes his extradition impossible.

The “Truce Case”, as the negotiation between the Funes government and the gangs to reduce homicides in El Salvador during his government was called, has been the most relevant case faced by the former president.

Salvador Sánchez Cerén, former president

He succeeded Funes in the position of president of El Salvador. At the end of his term in 2016, the Salvadoran Prosecutor’s Office started a legal process for illicit enrichment and money laundering.

Cerén applied for Nicaraguan nationality after Funes, and since 2022 has the shelter of Ortega in that country. Today, the United States accuses the ex-guerrilla commander of having diverted up to 183 million dollars of public funds to his personal accounts. Although he has not yet been convicted, his extradition is also not an option.

Unlike Funes, Cerén has not ruled on the accusations against him. However, the El Salvador Prosecutor’s Office seized the former president’s assets for the purpose of expropriation.

Apart from the two ex-presidents, four more Salvadorans were included: Miguel Menendezformer president of the Center for Fairs and Conventions; Carlos Alberto Ortiz, former president of the state bank Hipotecario; Carlos Cruz Arana; former vice president of Banco Hipotecario; and Jolman Ayalaformer officer of Banco Hipotecario.

Guatemala

Fredy Orellana, judge

Judge Fredy Raúl Orellana Letona is known for prosecuting “spurious” prosecutions against independent prosecutors and judges, most of them exiled in the United States and other countries.

Last week, his office issued the Cancellation of the Seed Movementled by the anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo, which made it impossible for him to participate in the second presidential round.

This Monday his office insisted on negotiations before the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to find out the reasons for not complying with his sentence even when the Constitutional Court had decided the continuity of the electoral process; His judicial office has also been merciless against journalists and human rights defenders.

Edelmira Monterroso, prosecutor

Cinthia Edelmira Monterroso Gómez, qualified as “sinister” by justice operators who had to flee Guatemala and who consider her “close” to the head of the Public Ministry, the controversial Consuelo Porras, also sanctioned last year by the United States government.

This prosecutor is known for opening investigations with apparent political motivations in emblematic cases, such as the capture and trial and conviction of journalist José Rubén Zamora, former president of the disappeared medium elPeriódico.

Jimi Rodolfo Bremer, judge

Tenth Criminal Judge B, Jimi Rodolfo Bremer Ramírez, known in the journalistic world in Guatemala after ordering an investigation against the journalists and columnists of the missing investigative newspaper elPeriódico, this judge hears one of the criminal cases against the journalist José Rubén Zamora sentenced to six years in prison.

The other seven Guatemalans included in the list are: Edgar Humberto Navarro Castro, former president of the administrator of the wholesale energy market of Guatemala; Gendri Rocael Reyesformer Minister of the Interior; Joviel Acevedo, current leader of the Guatemalan Education Workers Union (STEG).

As well as Melvin Quijivix Vegacurrent president of the National Institute of Electrification; omar neighborhood, president of the board of directors of the National Port Commission; and Walter Ramiro Mazariegosrector of the San Carlos University.

Honduras

Yani Rosenthal Hidalgo, party coordinator

Rosenthal, who is a coordinator of the Liberal Party, was in a US prison for three years, after being accused of money laundering by the Attorney General’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Treasury Department in 2015. After serving his sentence, he wanted to win the presidency of Honduras in 2021, but Xiomara Castro beat him at the polls.

At the time, Rosenthal admitted to having done cattle business with the “Los Cachiros” cartel in Honduras, whose leaders turned themselves in in the United States after being accused of drug trafficking. Today, the United States accuses Rosenthal of rigging the outcome of the Supreme Court election for his personal and political gain.

Alexander Lopez, Mayor

The current mayor of El Progreso in Honduras, Alexander López, was also included in the list after allegedly improperly awarding multimillion-dollar municipal contracts to his political allies.

López has already had several judicial processes for corruption, embezzlement and abuse of authority in Honduras. In fact, the mayor’s office that he directs was raided by the Public Ministry in 2021.

The official has already been mayor of El Progreso for 18 years. During Rosenthal’s presidential campaign, López came across as his ally.

Others mentioned in the list were Edna Yolany Batresformer Minister of Health; Jesus Arturo Mejiaformer general manager of the National Electric Power Company of Honduras (ENEE); Marcelo Antonio Chimirriformer director of the Honduran Telecommunications Company and other former officials.

Nicaragua

Wendy Morales, Attorney of the Republic

Wendy Carolina Morales is Nicaragua’s attorney general and has ordered the confiscation of property belonging to political opponents of the government without a legal basis.

According to local media reports, the official has handed over some emblematic buildings to the State, such as one that was rented in Managua by the Organization of American States (OAS) and that was expropriated under his guidance.

Morales joined the institution in 2007 when the government of Daniel Ortega returned to power, but until 2019 she was appointed as Attorney General of the Republic.

In Nicaragua, a total of 13 officials were sanctioned, including the entire leadership of parliament, with the exception of its president Gustavo Porras, who had already been sanctioned for washington.

The deputies and members of the National Assembly that were included in the list are: Arling Patricia Alonso, Gladis Baez, Loria Raquel Dixon and Alejandro Mejia. All these legislators are known for passing laws from Parliament to the detriment of opponents of Ortega.

The United States also added Nicaraguan judges to its list: Rosa Argentina Solis and Angela Davila Navarrete; already Denis Membreno Rivas, current director of the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF); to Aldo Martin Saenz Ulloa , current deputy director of the UAF; to Valeria Halleslevens Rye, director of the National Directorate of Property Registries (DNR); already Eduardo Ortega Roa deputy director of the institution.

in the same way to Marta Mayela Diaz Ortiz , vice superintendent of banks and other financial institutions (SIBOIF); already Tabernacle Benavides Lanuza deputy director of the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute.