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Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo is a fugitive – wanted for money laundering in his home country and the United States. He was caught in the Izabal Department of Guatemala on Tuesday morning. International press reports say he was in the beach resort in Punta De Palma. That is a small area of Atlantic Coast adjoining Puerto Barrios. The interesting part is that when he was arrested Guatemalan authorities say he had already hired a boat headed for –– you guessed it - Belize!

As you can see on the map, Punta De Palma – like Barrios – is just a short distance from Belize. Guatemalan Attorney General Amilcar Velasquez said authorities had been following Portillo for four days before arresting him the day after a U.S. indictment was unsealed in Federal Court in New York.

The American indictment says that during his term as president from 2000 to 2004, Portillo embezzled $1.5 million in donations from Taiwan intended to buy school books. Portillo allegedly endorsed checks drawn from a New York bank and deposited them in a Miami account. The money was then allegedly transferred to a Paris account in the name of his ex-wife and daughter.
The indictment also alleged that Portillo and the Credito Bank President stole money from the bank's publicly financed reserves. Portillo also allegedly embezzled nearly $4 million from Guatemala's Ministry of Defense in 2001 with help from two unnamed co-conspirators from the army, the indictment said. He has denied the allegations. If Portillo is extradited to the U.S., he would be arraigned on money-laundering charges that carry a maximum of 20 years in prison.