Police Station in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Wikimedia Commons.<\/i><\/p>\n
Officials from Nicaragua\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Guatemala\u2019s Attorney General\u2019s Office and the United Former Guatemala President Otto P\u00e9rez Molina Herrera allegedly requested political asylum in Nicaragua\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited human The granting of political asylum to Herrera in Herrera is just the latest controversial Central American fugitive to seek or have been granted political asylum in Nicaragua, and this growing trend may have a big impact on collective efforts across the region to fight crime and graft.<\/p>\n Herrera is just the latest controversial Central Disgraced former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes Manuel Baldiz\u00f3n, a Guatemalan powerbroker that is\u00a0facing bribery Honduran\u00a0cattle rancher Ulises Sarmiento, who While Baldiz\u00f3n and Sarmiento were never officially Despite the fact that Nicaragua signed in 1987 The government of El Salvador has\u00a0unsuccessfully\u00a0demanded\u00a0that the administration of President Ortega extradite Funes back to his native country to face his conviction.<\/p>\n The government of El Salvador After Funes Sarmiento is also reportedly a longstanding ally of For his part, Baldiz\u00f3n has\u00a0rubbed shoulders\u00a0with Nicaragua\u2019s elite business class –\u00a0former allies\u00a0of Ortega – through the construction of a hotel \u201cThere are contracts and agreements between these Ortega seems to have one set of rules for those he During a recent speech, Ortega demanded that However, Nicaragua has\u00a0cooperated\u00a0with other extradition agreements in the past. Ortega\u2019s willingness to grant asylum or temporarily protect some of the region\u2019s fugitives may also be a power move by the embattled president to strike back against broader anti-corruption drives across the Northern Triangle region of Central America as he faces mounting national and international\u00a0pressure.<\/p>\n Ortega\u2019s willingness to grant asylum or temporarily According to Nicaraguan journalist Wilfredo Miranda In the past, Ortega has been accused of\u00a0laundering The CICIG in Guatemala\u00a0helped send\u00a0a former president and vice president to jail, By taking in these fugitives, Ortega is further Anti-corruption successes across Latin America \u201cfueled elite This article was previously published by InsightCrime and can be read here<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police Station in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Wikimedia Commons. Officials from Nicaragua\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently granted political asylum to controversial Guatemalan businessman and\u00a0political broker\u00a0Gustavo Herrera Castillo,\u00a0La Prensa\u00a0reported\u00a0on August 22. Guatemala\u2019s Attorney General\u2019s Office and the United Nations-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) have for years been\u00a0investigating\u00a0Herrera for his alleged role in a multimillion-dollar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nrecently granted political asylum to controversial Guatemalan businessman
\nand\u00a0political broker\u00a0Gustavo Herrera Castillo,\u00a0La Prensa<\/em>\u00a0reported\u00a0on August 22.<\/p>\n
\nNations-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG)
\nhave for years been\u00a0investigating\u00a0Herrera for his alleged role in a
\nmultimillion-dollar corruption scandal within the country\u2019s Social Security
\nInstitute (IGSS).<\/p>\n
\n(2012-2015) also\u00a0accused\u00a0Herrera of having links to drug trafficking
\ngroups in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico in 2014.<\/p>\n
\nNicaragua out of fear for his life and security, according to La Prensa<\/em>. Herrera reportedly told the
\nMinistry of Foreign Affairs that Guatemala\u2019s Attorney General\u2019s Office and the
\nCICIG are carrying out an \u201cillegal\u201d criminal prosecution against him.<\/p>\n
\nrights as one of the primary reasons for granting Herrera asylum.<\/p>\n
\nNicaragua comes amid a deepening political and social crisis that has left more
\nthan 300 dead, thousands injured and hundreds more arbitrarily detained and
\nforcibly disappeared, according to the\u00a0Nicaraguan Human
\nRights Center\u00a0(CENIDH). Police and government-backed paramilitary groups have carried out the\u00a0overwhelming
\nmajority\u00a0of the
\nviolence.<\/p>\n
\nAmerican fugitive to seek or have been granted political asylum in Nicaragua,
\nand this growing trend may have a big impact on collective efforts across the
\nregion to fight crime and graft.<\/p>\n
\n(2009-2014) is currently hiding in Nicaragua after being\u00a0granted
\npolitical asylum\u00a0in
\nSeptember 2016. This helped him\u00a0avoid a\u00a0conviction\u00a0for illicit enrichment during his time as
\npresident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\ncharges\u00a0related to
\nthe Odebrecht corruption case, previously went to Nicaragua for\u00a0de facto
\nasylum until his January 2018\u00a0arrest.<\/p>\n
\nhas been suspected of having links to organized crime for years, and his family
\ncited political persecution in order to\u00a0seek asylum\u00a0in Nicaragua in 2015.<\/p>\n
\ngranted asylum, it is likely they were able to temporarily seek refuge in
\nNicaragua through their connections to President Daniel Ortega and the
\ncountry\u2019s elite class.<\/p>\n
\nan\u00a0extradition
\ntreaty\u00a0with the
\nCentral American governments of El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and
\nHonduras, Nicaragua national security expert Roberto Orozco considers that
\nthere is \u201cno possibility\u201d that the fugitives taking refuge in Nicaragua will be
\nextradited: \u201cThe government of Nicaragua has granted asylum to these
\nindividuals because they are allies of the Ortega administration. Asylum gives
\nthem protection and guarantees their security and impunity in Central America.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nhas\u00a0unsuccessfully\u00a0demanded\u00a0that the administration of President Ortega
\nextradite Funes back to his native country to face his conviction. <\/p>\n
\nwon the 2009 presidential election for the Farabundo Mart\u00ed National Liberation
\nFront (FMLN) – a political party formed by leftist guerrilla groups after the
\ncountry\u2019s civil war -, Funes \u201cenjoyed good political and ideological\u201d\u00a0relationships\u00a0with Ortega, himself a former guerrilla.<\/p>\n
\nOrtega and the\u00a0Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). He is believed
\nto have offered his home as a\u00a0safe house, in addition to providing other logistical and
\nfinancial\u00a0support\u00a0to the former Sandinista guerrillas in the 1970s
\nduring Nicaragua\u2019s civil war. <\/p>\n
\nand other investment projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\ntypes of people and Nicaraguan authorities that facilitate their arrival and
\nstay within the country\u201d, says\u00a0Nicaragua national security
\nexpert\u00a0Elvira Cuadra.<\/p>\n
\nhelps protect and another for the hundreds of Nicaraguans that are fleeing his
\ncountry\u00a0daily\u00a0to request asylum in neighboring Costa Rica amid
\nthe current unrest.<\/p>\n
\ngovernment officials there turn over a list of who is seeking asylum in order
\nfor him to determine who has committed \u201cterrorist acts\u201d – part of an
\nanti-terrorism\u00a0law\u00a0that many fear would further criminalize those
\nin the opposition – so they can face the proper \u201cjudicial processes\u201d in
\nNicaragua, El Pa\u00eds<\/em>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n
\nIn compliance with an\u00a0extradition treaty\u00a0signed with the United States, for example,
\nauthorities in Nicaragua\u00a0arrested and turned over to US authorities a member of the
\nFederal Bureau of Investigations\u2019 (FBI) Top 10 Most Wanted List in 2013.<\/p>\n
\nprotect some of the region\u2019s fugitives may also be a power move by the
\nembattled president to strike back against broader anti-corruption drives
\nacross the Northern Triangle region of Central America as he faces mounting
\nnational and international\u00a0pressure amid Nicaragua\u2019s worsening crisis.<\/p>\n
\nAburto, \u201cThe fact that Ortega has taken in these individuals responds more to
\nhis political bravado to tell the international community that he is not
\nwilling to allow the installation of an [independent anti-graft body] to
\nscrutinize Nicaragua\u2019s corruption problem, which is very dense\u201d.<\/p>\n
\ncriminal proceeds\u00a0from
\nthe\u00a0Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in addition to other
\nallegations of\u00a0financial
\ncorruption, which would
\ncertainly land him in the crosshairs of anti-corruption investigators.<\/p>\n
\namong other\u00a0judicial actions. A similar appendage backed by the Organization of
\nAmerican State (OAS),\u00a0the\u00a0Support Mission Against Corruption and
\nImpunity in Honduras (MACCIH), has also dealt several\u00a0serious blows\u00a0to the country\u2019s\u00a0elites.<\/p>\n
\nemphasizing his message to the international community that he will \u201cnot comply
\nwith\u00a0international anti-corruption treaties and frameworks,\u201d\u00a0Miranda
\nAburto adds.<\/p>\n
\nbacklash\u201d in 2017, and
\nOrtega\u2019s willingness to shield some of the region\u2019s fugitives from prosecution
\nmay undermine broader anti-graft drives in the future if those being prosecuted
\ncan successfully seek refuge nearby.<\/p>\n