By Sofia Menchu
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) urged Guatemala on Tuesday to take the fight against corruption seriously, reinforcing a message given by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris when she visited Central America last week.
After arriving from El Salvador, USAID chief Samantha Power met Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and separately with the country’s Attorney General and the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), Juan Francisco Sandoval.
“There are CEOs literally waiting on the sidelines to invest and create jobs in Guatemala,” Power wrote on Twitter.
“The key to unlocking their investment is the govt taking anticorruption seriously and ensuring the rule of law is respected and the people’s money is not stolen.”
The U.S. administration has put a focus on corruption Central America as part of a effort to curtail migration to the United States.
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu, writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
