A group of congressmen (bipartisan) from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs urged Trump’s Administration to use its authority under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to sanction six individuals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico for their involvement in corruption and organized crime.

One of these individuals is Remigio Angel Gonzalez, Mexican businessman head of media conglomerate Albavision Network, which at the same time owns Repretel Costa Rica (Channels 2,4, 6 and 11). Gonzalez is suspected of participating in acts of corruption and crime in Guatemala.

In their letter, the members state, “As the United States continues to support efforts in the Northern Triangle region of Central America to fight corruption and organized crime, we ask you to determine whether the following individuals meet the criteria to be held accountable under the Act… Detailed information on each of these individuals is attached. We urge the Department of State and the Department of Treasury, working with other relevant Executive Branch agencies, to promptly investigate these individuals and entities and, if merited, to sanction them as authorized in the Global Magnitsky Act. We look forward to a continued dialogue with the Administration to support the robust implementation of the Global Magnitsky law and efforts by the United States to combat corruption and human rights abuses in the Northern Triangle region of Central America and around the globe.”

This is not the first time that Gonzalez’ and his wife Alba Lorenzana, of Guatemalan nationality, are investigated; the Mexican does business in 11 countries in Latin America, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, among others where he owns a total of 35 TV channels, 114 radio stations and 2 newspaper companies.

The information included in the letter regarding the investigation on Gonzalez reads:

“Gonzalez has been able to sidestep laws prohibiting monopolies or restricting foreign ownership of national media by using phantom companies run by local relatives, friends and stand-ins. (…) In 2016, the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor’s Office implicated Alba Elvira Lorenzana in the corruption scheme set up to illegally finance the presidential campaign of Otto Pérez Molina and Roxana Baldetti known as the “Co-optation of the State”
“Experts and International organizations, such as the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR), have raised concerns about Gonzalez’s monopoly and its impact on freedom of expression.”