Emilio Lozoya: from the arrest in Málaga to six years without a verdict, the case file that extradition did not resolve

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Emilio Lozoya

Emilio Lozoya ran Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) between 2012 and 2016 and is the main figure named in the Odebrecht case in Mexico. He is also the clearest example that an extradition does not guarantee a conviction. Spanish police arrested him in Málaga in February 2020 and Mexico received him in July that year. Since then, … Read more about Emilio Lozoya: from the arrest in Málaga to six years without a verdict, the case file that extradition did not resolve

Jorge Glas: the prisoner who pitted Ecuador against Mexico and Colombia, from the raided embassy to the Inter-American Court

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Jorge Glas

Jorge Glas was Vice President of Ecuador between 2013 and 2017. He is the highest-ranking official convicted over the Odebrecht case in his country. He holds two final convictions and a third, of 13 years, pending appeal. However, his case file became an international affair on the night of 5 April 2024. Hours after Mexico … Read more about Jorge Glas: the prisoner who pitted Ecuador against Mexico and Colombia, from the raided embassy to the Inter-American Court

Rafael Correa: the final sentence Ecuador cannot enforce, the trial suspended over a kidnapping and life in Belgium

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Rafael Correa

Rafael Correa governed Ecuador between 2007 and 2017 and has lived in Belgium since leaving power. He is the only former president in the region with a final corruption conviction that no State has managed to enforce. The National Court of Justice sentenced him in absentia to eight years for bribery in April 2020. Belgium, … Read more about Rafael Correa: the final sentence Ecuador cannot enforce, the trial suspended over a kidnapping and life in Belgium

Manuel Baldizón: the candidate the United States convicted in 21 months and whom Guatemala failed to try in six years

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Manuel Baldizón

Manuel Baldizón was twice a presidential candidate in Guatemala, in 2011 and 2015, for the Líder party. His is the clearest case in this series of the asymmetry between foreign and national justice. In the United States he pleaded guilty to money laundering and served 21 months in a Georgia prison. He then returned deported. … Read more about Manuel Baldizón: the candidate the United States convicted in 21 months and whom Guatemala failed to try in six years

Sérgio Cabral: the trail of the US$100 million, Adriana Ancelmo’s jewels and the convictions that survive in 2026

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Sérgio Cabral

Sérgio Cabral governed Rio de Janeiro between 2007 and 2014 and is the politician with the most accumulated years in sentences in this entire series. The Brazilian press adds up more than 400 years in some twenty proceedings. However, this piece does not follow the sentences, but the money. In 2019 Cabral admitted holding US$100 … Read more about Sérgio Cabral: the trail of the US$100 million, Adriana Ancelmo’s jewels and the convictions that survive in 2026

Ollanta Humala: the trail of the Venezuela and Odebrecht contributions, the 57 donors who denied paying and what the Constitutional Court left unpunished

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Ollanta Humala

Ollanta Humala governed Peru between 2011 and 2016. In April 2025 he became the third former Peruvian president sentenced to prison over facts linked to Odebrecht. Fifteen months later, the Constitutional Court annulled the entire proceedings. This piece does not follow the sentence, but the money. It reconstructs which contributions the courts traced for the … Read more about Ollanta Humala: the trail of the Venezuela and Odebrecht contributions, the 57 donors who denied paying and what the Constitutional Court left unpunished

José López: the trail of the US$9 million from the convent, the bundle that travelled from New York and the assets the State kept

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José López

José López was Argentina’s Secretary of Public Works between 2003 and 2015, under Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández. In the early hours of 14 June 2016, a convent’s cameras filmed him throwing bags containing almost US$9 million, jewellery and a weapon. That image is the best-known of recent Argentine corruption. However, this piece does not … Read more about José López: the trail of the US$9 million from the convent, the bundle that travelled from New York and the assets the State kept

Roberto Prieto: the trail of Odebrecht’s million dollars, the 650 million pesos of Ruta del Sol III and the posters the construction company paid for in 2010

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Roberto Prieto

Roberto Prieto was the manager of Juan Manuel Santos’s re-election campaign in 2014. He is one of the Colombian political operators with the most judicial fronts over Ruta del Sol. This piece does not follow the sentences, but the money. It reconstructs three distinct flows. The million dollars that Odebrecht paid to the 2014 campaign … Read more about Roberto Prieto: the trail of Odebrecht’s million dollars, the 650 million pesos of Ruta del Sol III and the posters the construction company paid for in 2010

Otto Bula: the trail of Odebrecht’s 4,500 million pesos, the farm the Comptroller rejected and the 687 assets prosecutors seized

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Otto Bula

Otto Bula was a Liberal senator and a cattle rancher from Córdoba. He became Odebrecht’s key intermediary in Colombia for adding the Ocaña-Gamarra section to Ruta del Sol II. He then became the witness who made it possible to convict others. This piece does not follow his conviction, but his money. It reconstructs how much … Read more about Otto Bula: the trail of Odebrecht’s 4,500 million pesos, the farm the Comptroller rejected and the 687 assets prosecutors seized

Ñoño Elías: the trail of the 2 % of Ruta del Sol II, the 1,600 million pesos in bribes and the 13,600 million fine the Court imposed

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Bernardo «Ñoño» Elías

Bernardo Miguel Elías Vidal, «el Ñoño», was a senator for the Partido de la U and the great vote-getter of Córdoba. He is one of the politicians with the most final convictions in this series: three, none overturned. However, this piece does not follow the sentences, but the money. It reconstructs what he charged Odebrecht … Read more about Ñoño Elías: the trail of the 2 % of Ruta del Sol II, the 1,600 million pesos in bribes and the 13,600 million fine the Court imposed