In a new move to crack down on Russian corruption in Central America, the United States hassanctioned two people and three Guatemalan-based mining companies in cases exposed byOCCRP andForbidden Stories earlier this year.

Guatemalan police havearrested two U.S. citizens who were accused of jeopardizing the nation's natural and cultural heritage by trying to take a total of 166 Mayan artifacts out of the country.

Guatemalan authorities charged current and former high-ranking officials involved with one of the largest nickel mines in Central America which OCCRP exposed as a major polluter of the air and the country’s largest lake.

The United States put another foreign law enforcement official in their sights Monday as they designated Guatemalan Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras Argueta de Porres ineligible to enter the U.S. due to her involvement in significant corruption and for obstructing criminal investigations for personal gain.

The United States sanctioned seven suspected high-ranking members of the Los Huistas, Guatemala’s prominent criminal gang, accusing them of global illicit drug trade and cooperation with Mexico’s deadly Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said.

Leaked documents show executives from subsidiaries of Swiss mining company Solway knew contaminated water was leaching from the Fénix nickel mine.

A Panamanian national was extradited from Guatemala to the United States on Monday for alleged money laundering and bribery offences totalling roughly US$28 million linked to the Brazilian-based Odebrecht S.A. corruption scandal, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

A controversial prosecutor is stepping in to fill the post left vacant by Guatemala’s top anti-corruption investigator Juan Francisco Sandoval, who was forced out of office just two weeks ago. 

Just hours after being fired, Guatemala's top anti-corruption investigator fled on Saturday to El Salvador, claiming he had to "safeguard his life" and avoid being used by corrupt officials.

Authorities in Guatemala have detained seven people in raids on 20 properties as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to launder more than US$7 million in drug money.

In two massive operations that spanned three continents, authorities in North America, Europe and Brazil cracked down on transnational organized crime groups and drug traffickers, arresting nearly 750 suspects.  

When Erik Súñiga died in U.S. custody in April, he left a rich religious and political legacy in the Guatemalan town where he founded an evangelical church, and served as mayor for over a decade.

Prosecutors in Florida accused a former economics minister of Guatemala, of laundering about US$10 million in illegal drug trafficking proceeds and of corruption, a statement from theU.S. Department of Justicesaid on Wednesday.

Guatemalan authorities have arrested two sons of a former president of Panama following an extradition request by the United States, where they are facing money laundering charges.

The United States granted asylum to Guatemala’s former chief prosecutor just days after her country filed an extradition request based on embezzlement, lying and tax fraud charges she claims were raised in retaliation for her anti-corruption efforts.

Guatemala’s Constitutional Court on Monday ordered an injunction to stop an allegedly politically-motivated investigation into the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Al Jazeera reported.  

Guatemala has destroyed nearly 1.5 million coca plans worth US$800 in an attempt to undermine the country’s flourishing cocaine industry, President Jimmy Morales told reporters on Monday, according to Reuters.

Guatemala is ’’captured’’ by corruption, says a report the UN Commission compiled after a 12 years-long presence in the country that ends soon since President Jimmy Morales has refused to extend its mandate.

Rather than rebuilding hospitals damaged by the 2012 Guatemalan earthquake, public officials within the Ministry of Health embezzled nearly US$67.3 million from the public treasury, according to a UN report published on Tuesday. 

Around the world, journalists investigating the environmental and human impact of the mining industry are facing threats, harassment and violence. OCCRP and Forbidden Stories – a consortium of 40 journalists in 15 countries – takes a look at examples from three continents, in Guatemala, Tanzania, and India.