The United States has added several influential Central American people to a list of corrupt and undemocratic individuals. The US government has listed the names of those it deems to be immoral, including current and former politicians, senators, and business moguls.
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. The State Department publishes the list every year.
Those on the list will have their US visas canceled and won’t be allowed to enter the country.
The State Department this year listed 23 judges and prosecutors who it believed “undermined democratic processes” due to their alleged involvement in the arrest and prosecution of opposition activists.
The list of corrupt people includes Nicaraguans for the first time
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State said in a statement, “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.”
Nicaraguans were included on 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 declared the election a fraud and imposed penalties on Nicaraguan officials.
US authorities think that fighting corruption in Central America is one way to address the underlying causes of the record-breaking illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border, which presents President Joe Biden with a political and humanitarian problem.