Pure jewels! See who are the former Latin American presidents accused of corruption

Published at: 06/09/2024 08:45 PM

There are many politicians and former presidents in Latin America and Spain who have been accused of corruption, among other crimes, during their administration. As memory is short for many, here we remind you of some of the actions of rulers who went beyond the limits of justice:

Mario Abdo Benítez (Paraguay): The government of Abdo Benítez was surprised in its first year (2019) with the scandal of the secret act of Itaipu, which revealed an agreement to commercialize energy and favor a Brazilian company.

The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic had detected a series of flaws in President Mario Abdo Benítez's 2021 Annual Report as part of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. These flaws were exposed in the program “The Black Box”, broadcast by Unicanal, where one of the biggest corruption scandals that marked the administration of the Abdo Benítez government was brought to light.

The news report details the irregularities detected during the quarantine, when citizens were locked in their homes by order of the Executive Branch. While people were banned from taking to the streets, the Legislature approved an emergency law with an international loan of US$ 1.6 billion, while corrupt officials and businessmen who had an excessive desire for profit were doing their big business behind four walls, regardless of the terrible scenario that lay ahead, according to the news portal Hoy.

He was accused in 2024 of leaking confidential information to harm his opponent Horacio Cartes and also faced a scandal over an unfavorable energy deal with Brazil.

Óscar Arias (Costa Rica): In 2019, he was reported to the courts of law for sexual harassment of a doctor and anti-nuclear activist.

The University Weekly published the accusation, which details that the doctor and activist Alexandra Arce von Herold was harassed in December 2014, during a visit to Arias's house in San José.

“I opened the folder, explained to him, and when we finished I got up turning my back on him. Then he grabbed me from behind and touched my breasts,” the doctor told the weekly Universidad.

The victim was the leader of the Costa Rican branch of an international NGO for the abolition of nuclear weapons and had visited Arias to ask for support for his campaign.

She said that the episode caused serious disturbances in her life and forced her to move away from the management of the NGO she had founded in Costa Rica.

In addition, together with his brother Rodrigo Arias, they acquired land that the government had donated to peasants in El Jobo, canton of La Cruz de Guanacaste. These lands, once devalued and forgotten, were transformed into luxury hotels and tourist developments, increasing their value exponentially. This demonstrates their hegemonic figure in this country.

Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (Costa Rica): Five years after the scandal broke out and after ten months of trial for corruption, in 2009 a court in Costa Rica sentenced a former president to prison for the first time in the history of that country.

In one of the most resounding and complex judicial cases in memory in this country, the court has sentenced Calderón to five years in prison for two crimes of embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds), related to a distribution of 8 million dollars in commissions from a state loan.

This case is related to the distribution of 8 million dollars in commissions for a loan of 39.5 million dollars that the Costa Rican Social Security Fund signed with Finland in 2002 for the purchase of medical equipment from a company in that country. The prosecution 's indictment indicated that Calderón and the other seven defendants devised a “criminal plan” to guarantee the purchase of Finnish equipment and take advantage of the loan.

Iván Duque (Colombia): In May 2021, the International Foundation for Human Rights requested an international arrest warrant against Iván Duque and several officials of his government for the intensity and extent of the violation of human rights in the context of the national strike that began last April 28 of that year.

According to the Foundation, during the Duque administration, more than 3,405 cases of police violence were registered, discriminated against as follows: 16 murders committed by the security forces, in addition to the 27 cases to be investigated; 1,445 arbitrary arrests; 648 violent interventions; 47 serious eye injuries out of 175 cases of firearm injuries; 22 cases of sexual violence; 179 cases of assault on journalists; 346 people forcibly disappeared.

Mauricio Macri (Argentina): As is known, on April 3, 2016, the scandal known as the Panama Papers broke out, the leak that brought thousands of armed companies to light by the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca and which were then used to move black money in tax havens. Macri's accounts were linked to about 50 companies.

The judicial case was investigated by Judge Sebastián Casanello and by the prosecutor Federico Delgado and revolved around two companies, Fleg Trading and Kagemusha. Neither of them ever appeared in sworn statements by Mauricio Macri, who appeared as director of both companies. The president claimed that they had no movement and therefore did not require any declaration, but along the way, 9.3 million dollars appeared that were moved from Fleg Trading in Bahamas to Owners of Brazil, Socma (Macri Companies) of Brazil and Fleg Traders of Brazil and which, apparently, later ended up in Italy, at the Nuraghe Porto Rotondo hotel in Sardinia, owned by a friend of the family, Giorgio Nocella.

He was also prosecuted by the courts of his country, accused of alleged illegal espionage . Federal judge Martín Bava accused the former president of spying on the families of the crew members of the ARA San Juan submarine, sunk in 2017. The judge had investigated Macri on November 3 and this Wednesday, in addition to prosecuting him without preventive detention, he imposed a $1 million embargo on him and banned him from leaving the country.

José María Aznar (Spain): His party, the Popular Party (PP), was involved in one of the biggest corruption scandals in Spain, known as the Gürtel case.

This is a corruption scheme that came to light in 2009 and involved numerous politicians from the People's Party in the diversion of public funds. The Gürtel case revealed the existence of a network of large-scale corruption within the ruling party, which generated a deep political crisis and seriously damaged the image of the PP.

Several senior party officials were convicted of corruption in connection with this case, which highlighted the seriousness of the situation.

Andrés Pastrana (Colombia): During his presidency, Pastrana tried to negotiate peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This process, known as the Caguán peace talks, was highly controversial and ultimately failed. The FARC used the demilitarized zone granted for negotiations to strengthen themselves militarily, leading to an increase in violence.

Accusations of corruption: Pastrana has also been accused of having ties to figures involved in corruption. The Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, former leaders of the Cali cartel, accused him of receiving money from the criminal organization for their political campaigns.

Lenín Moreno (Ecuador): The austerity measures implemented by Moreno, such as the elimination of fuel subsidies, caused an increase in prices and widespread discontent. This led to mass protests in October 2019, which paralyzed the country for several days.

In April 2019, Moreno allowed British police to arrest Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had been in asylum since 2012. This decision was seen by many as a betrayal of the principles of political asylum and generated controversy both nationally and internationally.

The 2019 protests were particularly intense and reflected the deep discontent of various sectors of Ecuadorian society with Moreno's policies.

Álvaro Uribe (Colombia): During his administration (2002-2010), there were more than 6,000 cases of extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances of people who falsely presented themselves as having been killed in combat in guerrilla actions against the Colombian Army, known as false positives.

This number exceeds the number of Pinochet victims in Chile by two. The number of “false positives” is greater than what had been recognized in the past and shows that this period, in which Álvaro Uribe ruled, who rejects the accusations, “accounted for 78% of the total historical victimization”.

During the years that Álvaro Uribe Vélez was president of Colombia, 1,200 members of the security forces were prosecuted for false positives, of which almost half were finally acquitted on false accusations. Three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and eleven victims filed a complaint against them for the alleged partition in the extrajudicial executions carried out by the Army.

Felipe González (Spain): In his administration , he gave the green light to the formation of a mercenary group controlled by the army to combat the terrorists of the Basque armed organization Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA), which became known as Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups (GAL), the right-wing Spanish newspaper La Razón reported yesterday.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) points out this in a newly declassified report dating back to January 1984.

The report adds that the government seems determined to adopt an unorthodox strategy in relation to ETA, and adds that mercenaries would not necessarily be Spanish and would have as their mission to assassinate ETA leaders in Spain and France. However, even though they knew who the leaders of the armed group were, small fish were attacked.

The LAGs, which operated between 1983 and 1987, killed French citizens with no known political affiliation. They were responsible for 27 murders and several kidnappings, torture and embezzlement of public money.

Vicente Fox (Mexico): One of the most prominent controversies was Fox 's relationship with drug trafficking. During his administration, drug cartels continued to expand and many criticized the lack of effective measures to combat this problem. In addition, accusations emerged that some members of his cabinet were linked to organized crime, further undermining the credibility of his administration.

Another topic that generated controversy was the management of the economy. Despite Fox 's promises to boost economic growth and reduce poverty, many citizens did not experience significant improvements in their living conditions. In addition, there was criticism of the lack of transparency in the management of public funds and the lack of concrete results in the fight against corruption.

Juan Carlos Wasmosy (Paraguay): He was sentenced in 2020 to four years in prison for corruption in the transfer, in 1997, of a multi-million dollar fund to a bankrupt bank.

The background to the case indicates that in 1997 Wasmosy ordered - according to the investigation of Judge Jorge Bogarín - the state Social Security Institute (IPS), responsible for workers' social security, to divert 6 million dollars from its reserves to capitalize on the commercial and private Development Bank, to which he was linked through third parties.

Wasmosy is the first president in the history of Paraguay to be convicted by justice.

Luis Alberto Lacalle, who was president of Uruguay between 1990 and 1995, promoted a program of privatization of public companies that generated an intense debate in the country. His administration approved Act No. 16,211 in 1991, known as the Public Companies Act, which sought to eliminate state monopolies and allow association with private capital in several public companies such as ANTEL, PLUNA and the National Ports Administration.

However, these measures were highly controversial and faced strong opposition. In 1992, a popular referendum partially repealed the law, reflecting the discontent of a large part of the population who considered that privatizations were harmful to the country.

Jamil Mahuad (Ecuador): On January 21, 2000, Mahuad received multiple criticisms and pressures to leave the Government. The discontent prompted marches and social protests that responded to drastic economic measures such as the rise in the price of fuel and the freezing of bank deposits, referred to as a 'bank holiday'.

National finances were affected by the 7% drop in the economy, the price of a barrel of oil at USD 7 and an inflation of 60.7%, which led to the closure of about thirty banking institutions between 1998 and 1999.

Mazo News Team