WASHINGTON, United States - Washington on Wednesday designated former Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei who left office earlier this week as ineligible to enter the United States due to his involvement in corruption.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei speaks during the last govermment transition meeting at the Culture Palace in Guatemala City on December 6, 2023. US' State Department designated on January 17, 2024 Guatemala's former President Alejandro Giammattei as generally ineligible for entry into the United States due to his involvement in significant corruption, a press statement indicated. (Photo by Johan ORDONEZ / AFP)
Giammattei has been accused of propping up the attorney general who spearheaded a judicial campaign against the country's new, anti-graft president, Bernardo Arevalo.
The designation means Giammattei is "generally ineligible for entry" into the United States for "involvement in significant corruption," including accepting "bribes in exchange for the performance of his public functions" State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Such actions "undermined the rule of law and government transparency," Miller said.
"The United States has made clear that it stands with Guatemalans who seek accountability for corrupt actors," the statement added.
The entry ban also includes three of Giammattei's adult children.
The designation comes the same day as the State Department slapped sanctions on Guatemala's former energy minister Alberto Pimental Mata for involvement in government contract bribery schemes.
The attorney general under Giammattei's government, Consuelo Porras, as well as senior prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and Judge Fredy Orellana were at the forefront of efforts to stop reformist Arevalo from taking office after winning the general election last summer.
Arevalo was finally sworn in during the early hours of Monday morning in a ceremony which had been held up for hours over tensions about the status of lawmakers from his suspended political party Semilla.
Right-wing Giammattei has been accused by rights groups of overseeing a crackdown on anti-graft prosecutors and journalists, many of whom have been detained or forced to flee into exile.
The former president was just in the United States last week, visiting the Washington headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) -- which had itself urged the government to respect democracy by allowing Arevalo to take office.
The Central American nation is dogged by poverty, violence and graft, which results in thousands leaving the country every year in search of a better life, many heading to the United States.