Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced that former Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the nation’s former minister are barred from visiting the U.S. because of their involvement in “important corruption” whereas in public workplace.
Rubio mentioned Friday that Kirchner and former Argentina Minister of Planning Julio Miguel de Vido “abused their positions by orchestrating and financially benefitting from a number of bribery schemes involving public works contracts, leading to thousands and thousands of {dollars} stolen from the Argentine authorities.”
“A number of courts have convicted [Kirchner] and De Vido for corruption, undermining the Argentine individuals’s and buyers’ confidence in Argentina’s future,” the U.S.’s high diplomat mentioned in an announcement.
With the designation, Kirchner, de Vido and their instant members of the family might be “usually ineligible for entry into the US.”
Kirchner was Argentina’s president from 2007-15, serving two consecutive phrases.
In December 2022, Kirchner, then serving because the South American nation’s vp, was convicted and sentenced to 6 years in jail and banned for all times from holding public workplace over a $1 billion fraud and corruption scheme.
A federal appeals court upheld her verdict in November final yr. Kirchner has denied wrongdoing.
Whereas within the Senate, Rubio was one among eight Republican senators who penned a February 2024 letter to former President Biden, alleging he was misusing sanctions towards Latin American and Caribbean officers.
Rubio, then representing Florida, together with Republican Sens. James E. Risch (Idaho), Invoice Hagerty (Tenn.), James Lankford (Okla.), Mike Lee (Utah), Tim Scott (S.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), and Rick Scott (Fla.), informed Biden he “did not publicly designate President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her members of the family following their convictions for fraudulent authorities contracts for public infrastructure.”
“The USA will proceed to advertise accountability for individuals who abuse public energy for private acquire,” Rubio mentioned Friday. “These designations reaffirm our dedication to counter international corruption, together with on the highest ranges of presidency.”
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