Ramiro Orias Arredondo* Versión en español aquí. The third report of the International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (FFM), presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council on September 20, 2022 (A/HRC/51/43), addresses the human rights situation in the region of the Orinoco Mining Arc and other areas of the Bolivar state, in […]
Jan-Michael Simon Versión en español aquí. Part I of this series analyzed two ongoing criminal cases in the U.S. involving the laundering of proceeds of Venezuelan State corruption. One of them involves kickbacks in Venezuelan government purchases of food products exported from Mexico for a Venezuelan government social program (Food for Venezuela case). Part II examined how […]
Jan-Michael Simon Versión en español aquí. In Part I of this series, the author discussed two criminal cases pending before U.S. courts: the Housing case and the Food for Venezuela case. Both deal with business transactions involving the proceeds of public corruption tied to the Venezuelan State’s investment in the welfare of its people. This […]
Jan-Michael Simon Versión en español aquí. In a notorious, internationally known context of widespread public corruption in Venezuela, the justice systems of foreign states are expected to respond effectively when their territory is used to launder money gained from corrupt practices in Venezuelan territory. In the first part of a series of blogs, the author […]
Gaël Pétillon* Versión en español aquí. According to the Haitian Constitution, the legislative, executive, and judicial powers constitute the essential foundation on which the State’s organization is based. Within the exercise of their respective powers, duties, and functions, they are entirely independent. However, since January 2020, the failure to hold legislative elections has resulted in a […]
José C. Ugaz SM* How grand corruption and its functional kleptocracy destroyed a nation, condemning millions of Venezuelans to misfortune, a country which went from Bolivar’s dream to a never-ending nightmare. Grand corruption is like the coronavirus. Just as the coronavirus enters organisms silently and does not become visible until it has already taken hold […]
Katharine Valencia* Adapted from an article originally published on Revista Factum. Spanish version available here. There has been much attention to the “Engel List” in Central America in recent weeks. The list of corrupt and undemocratic actors published by the US Department of State on July 1 was highly anticipated, especially after a list of corrupt Central American […]
Ursula Indacochea* and Katharine Valencia** Versión en español aquí. President Joe Biden’s Administration has been very clear that one of its top priorities is addressing the massive migration of people to the United States, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Biden has opted to distance himself from the human rights-violating policies and the hostile […]
Eduardo Salcedo-Albarán* & Luís Jorge Garay-Salamanca** In 2019 Venezuela had the same Perception Corruption Index of Yemen, the country with “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world”[1]. With a score of 15/100 and ranking 176 among 179 countries, even North Korea and the Democratic Republic of Congo had a higher score than Venezuela: 18/100.[2] The […]
Naomi Roht-Arriaza** Who are the victims of grand corruption? The answer used to be “no one” or, at best, the state itself. But especially with the advent of a human rights approach to corruption in the Inter-American and United Nations human rights systems, that perception is slowly changing. Grand corruption affects the full range of human rights of individuals […]
Justicia en las Américas 