The United States has added dozens of Central American big-wigs to a list of “corrupt and undemocratic” individuals. The names of those, that the US government considers amoral include current and former officials, lawmakers, and business tycoons. Reuters reports that these people have been made a part of the Engel list. El Salvadorians, Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans who Washington charges with wrongdoing are included on the so-called Engel List, which was established under a statute that Eliot Engel, a then-US Representative, sponsored. The State Department publishes the list every year. Those on the list will have their US visas cancelled and won’t be allowed to enter the country.
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For their suspected involvement in the detention and prosecution of opposition activists, the State Department this year listed 23 judges and prosecutors who it claimed “undermined democratic processes.”
In a statement US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “These individuals, through their significant corruption, efforts to obstruct investigations into corruption, and undermining of democratic processes and institutions, weaken the ability of governments in the region to respond to the needs of their citizens, contributing to irregular migration and destabilizing societies”.
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Nicaraguans were included to the list for the first time. This comes after Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla, won a fourth term in November after imprisoning his opponents and cracking down on critical media.
Joe Biden had labelled the election a fraud and placed penalties on Nicaraguan leaders.
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US authorities believe that one of the solutions to addressing the underlying reasons for the record-breaking illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border, which presents a political and humanitarian challenge for President Joe Biden, is to combat corruption in Central America.
(With inputs from agencies)
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