Honduran, Guatemalan Lawmakers Make US “Corrupt” List

By Sofia Menchu and Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON, D.C., Weds May 19, 2021 (Reuters) – A U.S. State Department report on Central American officials “credibly alleged” to be corrupt includes six sitting Honduran lawmakers and two Guatemalan legislators, according to a list released by the office of U.S. Rep. Norma Torres on Tuesday.

The report also includes former senior officials in Guatemala, and follows the inclusion on the same list of a member of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s cabinet as well as a former Salvadoran minister.

The list emerged less than a week after the U.S. special envoy for Central America, Ricardo Zuniga, visited El Salvador and met Bukele amid a push from the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to confront graft and bolster the rule of law in the region.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)