July 26, 2021 01:39:27 pm
El Salvador officials have ordered the arrest of former president Salvador Sánchez Cerén after he was charged with unlawfully receiving USD $530,000 as a bonus during his time as vice president. The Attorney General’s office initiated the legal process and asked international police to locate and extradite Sánchez Cerén so that he can face the charges against him.
Sánchez Cerén, who is now deemed a fugitive, served as vice president under former president Mauricio Funes between 2009 and 2014 before serving as president from 2014 to 2019. He also previously served as a commander of the former Salvadoran guerrilla and as a deputy in the Legislative Assembly.
GUATEMALA CITY
The U.S. State Department has named more than 50 current and former officials, including former presidents and active lawmakers, suspected of being corrupt or undermining democracy in three Central American countries.
Many of the cases were known in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but the inclusion of names on the U.S. list buoyed the hopes of anti-corruption crusaders. The list was provided to the U.S. Congress in compliance with the “U.S.-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act.”
Its release comes at a time when the Biden administration has given new attention to corruption in the region as one of the factors driving Central Americans to migrate to the United States.
USAID steers El Salvador funding away from state
‘DEEP CONCERNS’: Funding would be diverted from the Attorney General’s Office and the police to civil society groups and human rights organizations, USAID said
AP, SAN SALVADOR
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) would redirect its funding from El Salvador’s state institutions to its civil society groups as tensions rise between the two governments over the Central American country’s removal of Salvadoran Supreme Court justices and the attorney general.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power said in a statement on Friday that the agency has “deep concerns” about the shakeup in the justice system earlier this month and more generally about transparency and accountability.