U.S. adds Former Honduran leader to list of corrupt officials

The Biden administration places former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez on a classified list of corrupt officials in Central America, the State Department announced on Monday. 

Hernandez "has engaged in significant corruption by committing or facilitating acts of corruption and narco-trafficking, and using the proceeds of illicit activity to facilitate political campaigns," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Hernandez was included in the blacklist on July 2021, but the decision was not made public since he was still in power at the time. However, with him stepping down last month, the State Department declassified his name.

The so-called Engels list includes officials from the Northern Triangle countries—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—who are suspected of corruption or undermining democracy. 

The list "generally makes the listed individuals ineligible for visas and admission to the United States," Blinken said.

Earlier this month, Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked the Biden administration to designate Hernandez as a “significant foreign narcotics trafficker” and to make it illegal for U.S. companies to do business with him. 

"President Hernandez has been a central figure in undermining the rule of law in his own country and in protecting and assisting drug traffickers to move their materials through Honduras and to the United States,” Congresswoman Norma Torres wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, echoing Menendez’s request.

 “He has been repeatedly identified as a co-conspirator in other drug trafficking cases and has caused incredible pain to both the people of Honduras and the United States. I believe it is essential that the United States hold him accountable for his criminal behavior,” she added.