Roxana Baldetti

Ingrid Roxana Baldetti Elías (born May 13, 1962) is a Guatemalan politician who served as the first female Vice President of Guatemala from 2012 until her resignation amid a corruption scandal in 2015.

Early life Baldetti was born on May 13, 1962, in Guatemala City to Alejandro Baldetti and Gladys Elías de Baldetti. She held the role of Block Head starting in 2007.

As required by law, she resigned from Congress ahead of the 2011 Guatemalan general election after formalizing her candidacy as vice president on Pérez's ticket. Part of their platform was focused on fighting corruption, something Baldetti had worked on while in Congress. They took office on January 14, 2012.

El Periódico article In 2013, Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico published an article outlining Baldetti's purchases of multi-million dollar homes, luxury goods, and frequent travel, and her fortune was estimated to be around 10 million dollars, significantly exceeding what she should have acquired on her salary. and raised suspicions about photographs of drug trafficker Chacón Rossell at Baldetti's birthday party. Her two Tecpán farms and US$13.4 million helicopter were thought to be gifts from alleged PP supporters. Baldetti denied the published accusations, claimed she did not know Rossell, and stated that she had worked hard for what she had. it included officials receiving bribes to reduce duties paid by importers. Baldetti was detained on fraud charges on August 21, 2015, while at the hospital.

Audio from a wiretapped phone call featuring Baldetti's voice was played in court, and wiretaps of others implicated in the scandal refer to her involvement with references to "the R," "the No. 2," and "the Lady." Her arrest was followed by prosecutor Thelma Aldana's call for President Molina to be impeached and protests demanding his resignation, which he eventually succumbed to. Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez of Guatemala City ordered Baldetti, Pérez, and another 26 people, including former senior officials from Guatemala's customs duty system, to face trial on charges related to bribes channeled to officials helping businesses evade customs duties.

On October 9, 2018, Baldetti was sentenced to 15½ years in prison for illicit association, fraud, and influence peddling related to the issuance of government contracts to an Israeli company to clean Lake Amatitlán, something she did without first submitting the requisite environmental paperwork. She was sentenced on 7 December 2022 to 16 years in prison for the graft case but can appeal. In March 2023, the judge granted permission for Baldetti to be transported from the prison to her home four days a week to receive pre-operative treatment for back problems.

In 2017, she was acquitted of cocaine trafficking charges in the United States.

Personal life In 1987, she married Mariano Paz, a farmer from San Marcos with an agricultural distribution business. They have two sons, Luis Pedro (born in the late 1980s) and Mario (born c. 1991).

Jorge Serrano Elías was reported to be her uncle, but other sources refute this. In a radio interview, Baldetti denied ever claiming relation to him.