Otto Pérez Molina

Otto Pérez Molina served as the president of Guatemala from 2012 to 2015. He was elected on a platform promising to combat drug-related crime with an "iron fist". His administration also pursued prosecutions for genocide committed during Guatemala's civil war.12

However, Pérez Molina's presidency was overshadowed by a major corruption scandal known as "the Line," involving kickbacks and customs fraud. In August 2015, investigators implicated both Vice President Roxana Baldetti and President Pérez Molina in the scheme. Congress stripped Pérez Molina of his immunity, and he resigned on September 2, 2015, becoming the first Guatemalan president to face trial while in office. In December 2022, he was convicted of illicit association and customs fraud and sentenced to 16 years in prison.12