US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Brendan O’Brien said visa denial is a tool they use to avoid these cases.
United States chargé d’affaires Brendan O’Brien said in a televised interview yesterday that when there is evidence of corruption, they will use any means to prevent it, such as visa revocation, according to the Engel list. which is months away from publication in Washington.
“If there is corruption all over the world, you have to name it,” he said of disclosing the names and surnames of the participants in these events.
O’Brien explained that in other years they have used visa revocation to not only fight corruption, but also in other cases, such as ‘coyotes’, and in other cases where they can use this visa revocation tool, in this case not only. visa refusal, but there may be freezing of funds and accounts they hold in the United States, be they government officials or individuals of interest to the North American country.
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“We can’t talk about specific cases, but we’ve revoked visas,” says O’Brien.
He notes that with regard to the assistance that the United States has provided to the Central American region, particularly the $ 4,000 million for El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, the benefit will be direct to the population, where they will work with the government, the private sector. and organizations. “This is the intention, in order to create jobs it is important to work with the entire Salvadoran community,” he says.
According to the United States, the Engel List will be published in June, revealing the names of people involved in corruption cases in Central America whose visas to enter that country will be revoked, which will affect the relationship with the United States. .
Beware of China
The US embassy’s chargé d’affaires says his country is the “ trusted partner ” and they will always support El Salvador, as in the case of vaccines, for which he felt it was right for China to make donations … to the country, as it is a shared challenge, but regarding economic issues such as loans to El Salvador, he said Salvadorans need to be careful.
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“On other issues such as working on the economy or lending to El Salvador, I would think that Salvadorans should be careful because as we have seen in the region there are practices without transparency, sometimes with corruption, with loans and there are many countries that have made debts with loans from China, ‘says the charge d’affaires of the United States.
He added that if using these loans, if given, if there is transparency, it would be good to negotiate with China.
“A country can have a relationship with any country it wants, but we always will, we have always been with El Salvador and will be with El Salvador in the future,” said O’Brien.
He believes there has been a lot of success in El Salvador with Fomilenio II, with other companies, where it is important in business to be transparent and ensure that there is no corruption. O’Brien says the country has always had corruption problems like the rest of the world, but believes that creating the CICIES can help fight corruption, which is why he believes it is important to support it.