The US sanctioned on Monday two Guatemalan officials over alleged corruption. This, ahead of Vice-President Kamala Harris's visit to the Central American country in June and as part of a wider strategy to address what the U.S. government identifies as "corruption" in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
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The U.S. Treasury Department announced the measures on Guatemala's Congress deputy Felipe Alejos Lorenzana and former chief of staff under president Alvaro Colon, the citizen Adolfo Alejos Cambara.
Kamala Harris previews Guatemala trip even though she still has no trip scheduled to see Biden's border crisis firsthand pic.twitter.com/oLl8KUQUjY
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"These sanctions support efforts by the people of Guatemala to end the scourge of corruption, as part of the U.S. government’s commitment to supporting improvements in governance in Guatemala," the Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Moreover, the U.S. official pointed out that the Guatemalan individuals "sought to interfere with the judicial selection process for appointing magistrates to Guatemala’s Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) and Court of Appeals." The current sanctions automatically freeze any assets they could have abroad.