Current Guatemalan presidential candidate, Otto Pérez Molina, and his running mate, Roxana Baldetti, of the Partido Patriota (Patriot Party, PP) have met with Ambassador McFarland at least twice since Pérez Molina’s failed 2007 presidential campaign. The contents of these meetings were revealed in Wikileaks cables released on 14 April in El País.
In a section of 08GUATEMALA1163, subtitled “Not Me,” Baldettti defended Pérez Molina against charges that he, too, was involved in the financial scandals that have beset Congress in recent years. Approximately $11.2 million is missing from Congress’s accounts. Baldetti stated that the personal loan Pérez Molina received from MDF, a private investment firm involved in the scandal, was not at all connected to Congress’s missing funds. Additionally, she characterized the Superintendency of Banks’ revelation of the existence of such a loan as “a politically motivated smear campaign.” McFarland commented to the State Department that “Perez’s loan from MDF manager Giron reportedly was drawn against the same account into which Congress’ funds were deposited, leaving some to doubt his assertion that he had nothing to do with the ongoing finance scandal.” (more…)
