Central America
Public Prosecutor’s Office requests that former Salvadoran official and his family return $498,374 to the State
August 22|
The Specialized Unit for Corruption Crimes of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) requested the Third Civil Chamber to condemn the former Minister of National Defense, David Munguía Payés and his family for having enriched themselves in an illicit manner and to return $498,374.31 to the State.
The prosecution also requested the Chamber to disqualify the former official from holding any public office for 10 years.
The civil proceeding began on December 21, 2021, and the former public official, his wife, Sandra Dinora Molina de Munguía and his daughters, Sandra Beatriz and Blanca Patricia, both Munguía Molina, were sued.
The ruling against the defendants will be announced next Thursday, July 24.
The lawsuit is based on a report of 14 irregularities pointed out by the Probity Section of the Supreme Court of Justice, which could not be removed administratively. Of these, 11 are attributed to the former Minister of Defense, and three are attributed to his wife and daughters. The anomalies occurred when Munguía Payés served as Minister of Defense, between June 1, 2009 and November 22, 2011.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office demands that justice be done and that the retired military officer must return $491,297.77 to the State, while his wife $3,614.07, one of his daughters $2,362.50, and the other a total of $1,100.
In her closing arguments, one of the prosecutors in the case stated that according to the expert report it was not possible to identify the origin of the funds with respect to an income generating source, and she did not find an origin in the deposits claimed to Munguía Payés.
Among the irregularities are deposits to bank accounts, purchase of real estate, credit card payments.
“Not having the defendant proved the origin of a lawful source of each one of the irregularities claimed to him, due to the evidence limited by the tax representation in which it was established that the legitimate income has not been sufficient. We request to declare the existence of enrichment without just cause or lawful on the part of Mr. David Victoriano Munguía Payés”, said one of the prosecutors.
Munguia Payes was minister of security under Mauricio Funes, and both negotiated a truce with the gangs, and then the retired general was minister of defense towards the end of Funes’ term and then under Sanchez Ceren.
Central America
El Salvador to host World Cup qualifiers vs. Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán
El Salvador’s national football team will host its final round World Cup qualifying matches against Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán, the honorary president of the National Sports Institute (INDES), Yamil Bukele, announced Thursday via a statement on his X account.
The official explained that this decision comes after the American rock band Guns N’ Roses, originally scheduled to perform at Estadio Cuscatlán on Saturday, October 4, will now hold their concert at Estadio Jorge “El Mágico” González. This change allows both of La Selecta’s qualifying matches to be played at the “Coloso de Monserrat.”
“After a series of efforts and in response to popular demand, we are pleased to announce that our senior national team’s CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches next October (Oct. 10 vs. Panama and Oct. 14 vs. Guatemala) will take place at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement reads.
Bukele also thanked the event promoters and the band for agreeing to the stadium change. “We sincerely thank Guns N’ Roses and StarTicket for agreeing to move the concert originally scheduled for October 4 at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement adds.
Additionally, Bukele expressed gratitude to the FESFUT Regularization Commission for their efforts with CONCACAF to make this possible, and he urged fans to stay tuned to official channels to purchase tickets and support La Selecta in their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Central America
Honduran president Xiomara Castro suspends activities due to influenza
Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Thursday that she has “temporarily” suspended her public activities due to a severe influenza virus.
“A strong influenza virus requires me to rest, trusting that I will be fully recovered for the grand celebration of our National Independence Day” next Monday, Castro stated on the social media platform X.
The president had planned to participate in several inaugurations across the northern, central, and eastern regions of the country throughout the week. She added that “these events will be rescheduled for new dates.”
Central America
Nicaragua’s government expels bishops, priests, and nuns in religious persecution
At least 261 religious figures, including the president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, Carlos Enrique Herrera, have been expelled as part of the persecution by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime against the Catholic Church, reported the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más in its report Faith Under Fire.
The report details that among those expelled are bishops Silvio Báez, Rolando Álvarez, Isidoro Mora, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio in Managua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, along with approximately 140 priests, over 90 nuns, ten seminarians, and three deacons from different dioceses in the country.
“Since the expulsion of Nuncio Sommertag in March 2022, relations between Nicaragua and the Vatican have significantly deteriorated,” the NGO noted.
The report also documents the closure of 5,609 non-profit organizations, of which 1,294 were religious, including churches, universities, schools, clinics, and humanitarian organizations. Most of these had their assets confiscated by the Sandinista government. Additionally, the telecommunications regulator TELCOR shut down 54 media outlets, including 22 religious radio stations and TV channels.
Repression has extended to other religious denominations, with forced disappearances and criminalization of evangelical pastors, control over temples, media censorship, fiscal pressure, property confiscation, and the cancellation of legal status for the Moravian Church. Pastor Rudy Palacios remains in detention as part of this pattern of persecution.
The NGO emphasized that churches, especially the Catholic Church, played a key role in the 2018 national dialogue, denouncing abuses and providing refuge to injured protesters, which fueled the government’s hostility.
In 2023, Pope Francis described Ortega’s regime as a “blatant dictatorship”, to which the Nicaraguan president responded by dissolving the Society of Jesus and labeling the Church as a “mafia” and “anti-democratic.”
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