Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned one current and one former Guatemalan government official for their roles in corruption in Guatemala. This action targets Gustavo Adolfo Alejos Cambara, the former Chief of Staff for the Alvaro Colom presidential administration, and Felipe Alejos Lorenzana, an elected delegate to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala. In February 2020, FECI discovered that while in pre-trial detention for his prior alleged corrupt activities, Gustavo Adolfo Alejos Cambara (Gustavo), the former Chief of Staff for the Alvaro Colom presidential administration from 2008–2012, had been seeking to influence the judicial selection process for magistrates to the CSJ and Court of Appeals. To do this, Gustavo reportedly facilitated payments to congressional representatives and judges on the CSJ, in coordination with Felipe Alejos Lorenzana (Felipe), to influence an outcome at both institutions that would secure Gustavo’s future release from prison, dismiss the corruption charges against him, and protect Felipe — as well as CSJ judges — from future prosecution due to corruption. Additionally, Gustavo, who is currently under house arrest, has been the target of several corruption-related investigations. For instance, in 2019, Gustavo was accused of receiving bribes from a businessman as part of a corruption network involving money laundering and bribery in government construction contracts in Guatemala. Gustavo reportedly purchased offshore assets in Panama and Belize in an effort to obfuscate these funds; Gustavo also purchased property that was later gifted to officials in exchange for political favors. FECI issued an arrest warrant against Gustavo related to this these alleged corrupt activities.
Felipe, an elected delegate to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala for the 2020–2024 term, is a close associate of Gustavo. Felipe allegedly facilitated bribes and payments from private construction firms for ongoing or potential state infrastructure contracts to congressional representatives, with the goal of ensuring congressional support of Constitutional Court magistrates and alternates, who would support a future Constitutional Court ruling favoring Felipe’s immunity, keeping Felipe and other congressional representatives out of jail.
Gustavo and Felipe are designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being foreign persons who are current or former government officials, or persons acting for or on behalf of such an official, who are responsible for or complicit in, or who have directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
On December 23, 2016, the President signed the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Pub. L. 114-328, Title XII, Subtitle F) (the “Act”) into law. The Act authorized the President to impose targeted sanctions on any foreign person the President determines is, among other things, responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, or a government official, or a senior associate of such an official, responsible for, or complicit in, ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, acts of significant corruption.
On December 20, 2017, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order 13818 (82 FR 60839, December 26, 2017) (E.O. 13818), effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on December 21, 2017.
In E.O. 13818, the President determined that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
OFAC is issuing the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 583 (the “Regulations”), to implement the Act and E.O. 13818, pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13818. A copy of E.O. 13818 appears in appendix A to this part.
