U.S. bars ex-Guatemala president from entry, three days after he left office
GUATEMALA CITY — The U.S. State Department barred former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei from entry into the United States on Wednesday — three days after he left office — citing “significant corruption.”
The Biden administration had become increasingly critical of Giammattei’s administration as Guatemalan prosecutors pursued now-President Bernardo Arévalo, seeking to interrupt his transition of power.
“The State Department has credible information indicating that Giammattei accepted bribes in exchange for the performance of his public functions during his tenure as president of Guatemala, actions that undermined the rule of law and government transparency,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement Wednesday.
Corruption allegations swirled around Giammattei for much of his term, but prosecutors who received the accusations were pushed out by Atty. Gen. Consuelo Porras — herself already sanctioned by the U.S. government — and the inquiries did not advance.
Guatemala’s new president, Bernardo Arévalo, faces huge challenges after he was finally sworn into office, including his party’s lack of recognition in Congress.
The U.S. assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian A. Nichols, had warned last week that the U.S. government would continue identifying and holding accountable those who tried to undermine Guatemala’s democracy.
Giammattei had maintained in the months before the inauguration that the prosecutors’ cases against Arévalo and his party were not politically motivated and that because of the separation of powers he could not intervene. Publicly he said the transition of power was advancing.
Critics said that during Giammattei’s four-year term, much of the more than decade of work by a United Nations-supported anti-corruption commission and Guatemalan prosecutors was undone. The local prosecutors and judges who worked with the U.N. became the hunted, with dozens fleeing the country and those who didn’t getting locked up and facing charges.
Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo is waiting to be sworn in as the old-guard Congress dawdling has delayed the inauguration ceremony
The U.S. government has sanctioned hundreds of Guatemalan officials and private citizens accused of undermining the country’s democracy. Earlier in President Biden’s term, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemala and said unchecked corruption was a factor driving Guatemalans to emigrate.
“The United States remains committed to strengthening transparency and governance in Guatemala and throughout the Western Hemisphere and we will continue to use all available tools to promote accountability for those who undermine it,” Miller’s statement said Wednesday.
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