(CNN Spanish) — The United States included the former presidents of El Salvador Mauricio Funes (2009 – 2014) and Salvador Sánchez Cerén (2014 – 2019) in the 2023 report of the “corrupt and undemocratic actors” of Central America, the State Department reported on Wednesday.
The report includes individuals who “have been determined to have engaged in the relevant activity based on credible information or allegations of the conduct in question, from news media reports and other sources.”
Funes and Sánchez Cerén are mentioned in a list of 39 people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua who will no longer be eligible to apply for a visa that allows them to enter the United States. In addition, according to the report, any other entry documentation into the country “will be immediately revoked.”
According to the report, Funes “orchestrated and participated in various schemes involving bribery, embezzlement and money laundering while he was president, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from state coffers.”
In El Salvador, Funes has several open criminal proceedings for events related to alleged corruption during his government. In all of them he has pleaded not guilty.
Funes has also received sentences -in absentia- in two different cases. In May, a court sentenced him to 14 years in prison on charges of ganging up and breach of duty, and in early July he was sentenced to six years in prison for tax evasion.
The report indicates, for its part, that Sánchez Cerén laundered money during his tenure as vice president, “personally receiving more than US$1.3 million in public funds in return, and participated in a scheme to divert US$183 million in public funds to personal accounts while serving as president.”
Sánchez Cerén faces an accusation of embezzlement in El Salvador, which he has denied.
This Wednesday, Funes said on Twitter: “I am not surprised that the United States has included me in the most recent update of the Engel list. The Embassy of that country has played an important role in the mounting of the Public Looting case and has consented to the arbitrariness of the process.”
CNN is trying to get comment from the US Embassy on Funes’ reaction.
For his part, Sánchez Cerén had not publicly commented on the State Department’s accusations and CNN is trying to obtain comments.
The Guatemalan government, for its part, rejected the publication of the Engel List through a statement on Wednesday, pointing out “the subjectivity of the publication”, and that it operates through “value judgments and without guarantee of legitimate defense to through due process of law.”
“We reiterate that this list cannot be considered a binding instrument under any circumstances in Guatemalan law, as it derives from unfounded media accusations,” the statement concluded.
Both Funes and Sánchez Céren live in Nicaragua.
