Preceded by Otto Perez Molina Name Roxana Baldetti | Nationality Guatemalan Spouse Mariano Paz (m. 1987) | |
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Full Name Ingrid Roxana Baldetti Elias Children Mario Paz Baldetti, Luis Pedro Paz Baldetti Previous offices Vice President of Guatemala (2012–2015), Member of the Congress of Guatemala (2008–2011) Parents Gladys Elias de Baldetti, Alejandro Baldetti Similar People Otto Perez Molina, Manuel Baldizon, Jimmy Morales, Alejandro Sinibaldi, Sandra Torres | ||
Guatemala vice president roxana baldetti resigns amid customs corruption scandal
Ingrid Roxana Baldetti Elías (born May 13, 1962) was the first female Vice President of Guatemala from 2012 until her resignation amid a corruption scandal in 2015.
Contents
- Guatemala vice president roxana baldetti resigns amid customs corruption scandal
- Renuncia vicepresidenta de guatemala roxana baldetti
- Early life
- Career
- As a politician
- Unexplained wealth
- Personal life
- Resignation and arrest
- References
Renuncia vicepresidenta de guatemala roxana baldetti
Early life
Baldetti was born in Guatemala City. She comes from a conservative, Catholic family. Her parents were Alejandro Baldetti and Gladys Elías de Baldetti. She attended primary school in the Colegio Monte Carmelo, graduating as a primary education teacher in El Sagrado Corazón de Jesús at the Historic Center of Guatemala. She obtained a bachelor's degree in Journalism at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala.
Career
Previously an elementary school substitute teacher, Baldetti started in journalism on the television news program Aquí el Mundo. She was co-founder of the news program TV Noticias. She worked at Univisión as a correspondent from Guatemala for the show Primer Impacto.
She worked in favor of women for the United Nations at a national level, including conferences within the Republic in partnership with Kellogg's Central America. She was founder of a beauty products company, also she founded a spa and hair salon chain.
As a politician
In the 1990s, she was designated as the Subsecretary of Public Relations for the Presidency of the Republic. In 2001, she helped found the Patriot Party alongside Otto Pérez Molina. She was elected to Congress in 2004, she held the position of national-list congressiona deputy for the Patriot Party. However, she presented her resignation to the Congress president before August 15, 2011, as she was going to participate as the vice presidential candidate for the same party, as Pérez Molina's running-mate. and she announced the elections day that she will retake her position as deputy. She has been the General Secretary of the Patriotic Party since 2009.
Unexplained wealth
In 2013, Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico published details of Baldetti's purchases of multimillion-dollar homes and other luxury goods with unexplained wealth. Baldetti owns five properties and a helicopter worth over US$13 million, which could not be accounted for by her or her husband's income.
In response to the investigation into unexplained wealth, a Guatemalan judge initiated legal proceedings against the editor of El Periódico, José Rubén Zamora. The Inter American Press Association subsequently denounced the judicial action as a form of censorship.
Personal life
In 1987 she married Mariano Paz, and they have two children, Luis Pedro and Mario.
Resignation and arrest
Baldetti resigned from her post as Vice President on May 8, 2015, after a U.N. anti-corruption investigation arrested 24 individuals, including her personal secretary Juan Carlos Monzón Rojas, for involvement in an import bribery scheme known as La Línea (the Line) in which officials received bribes to reduce duties paid by importers. Baldetti was detained on fraud charges on August 21, 2015, while at the hospital. Reportedly, wiretaps of those implicated in the scandals appears to refer to her involvement with references to "the R", "the No.2" and "the lady." Her arrest was followed by allegations by prosecutor Thelma Aldana against President Molina, and protests calling for his resignation.