A broad wave of corruption cases struck Central America in October 2004, touching leaders and former officials across the region. In Honduras, nearly 400 prosecutors publicly expressed shame after an investigation into alleged misappropriation of roughly $20 million by former president Rafael Callejas was suspended. In Nicaragua, President Enrique Bolanos acknowledged receiving $326,000 from Nicaraguan business figures based in the United States, calling the resulting impeachment push politically motivated.
Several regional heads of state convened at Managua's airport to urge the Organization of American States to intervene against Nicaragua's legislature. The US State Department also backed Bolanos, condemning what it called politically motivated attempts to destabilize his government.
Costa Rica, long considered relatively clean by regional standards, faced its own troubles. Former president and then-OAS secretary general Miguel Angel Rodriguez resigned his international post and was arrested in San Jose on charges of accepting kickbacks from French telecom firm Alcatel. Current president Abel Pacheco faced separate suspicions over nearly $490,000 allegedly linked to Taiwan.
Elsewhere, Guatemala's former president Alfonso Portillo remained in Mexico while prosecutors sought to question him about a $3.7 million misappropriation. Panama's incoming government moved to reverse a tax exemption worth $22.2 million granted to a Chinese port management company, a deal described as the largest scandal in the country's history.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in October 2004, in its own words.