The former head of Guatemala’s anticorruption office has been granted asylum in the United States, more than two years after he was forced to flee his country.
Juan Francisco Sandoval acknowledged the decision with a social media post on Thursday, saying it was confirmation of the threats he had endured.
“Granting me political asylum is further evidence of the political persecution of which I am a victim,” Sandoval wrote.
He explained he was targeted “for having participated in the investigation of illicit political-economic networks embedded in the state” across six separate administrations.
Sandoval has been in exile since July 24, 2021, when he fled in the early hours of the morning, crossing the border from Guatemala to El Salvador.
Worried for his safety, Swedish Ambassador Hans Magnusson accompanied him, as did journalists and human rights advocates.
They feared he would otherwise be arrested on trumped-up charges. Just one day earlier, in an abrupt turn of events, Sandoval had been fired as head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI).
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Top anticorruption prosecutor from Guatemala receives asylum in the US
