Yani Rosenthal

Yani Benjamin Rosenthal Hildago (born July 14, 1965 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras) is a businessman and politician.

Personal Data

His parents are Mr. Jaime Rolando Rosenthal Oliva and Mrs. Miriam Marina Hildago de Rosenthal. He has a sister, Patricia and three brothers; Jaime (deceased), Carlos José and César Augusto. Yani is married to Claudia Madrid and they have four daughters; Isabella, Victoria, Elissa, and Alexandra.

In 1993 his home suffered damages from a bomb attack. Rosenthal was Director of [http://www.tiempo.hn/ Diario Tiempo] ("Honduras Times Newspaper") and published a series of articles about military abuses and his home was temporary shelter of a witness of a killing performed by military, so it has been alleged that the military was involved. [ [http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/democracy/1993_hrp_report/93hrp_report_ara/Honduras.html 1993 Human Rights Report: HONDURAS ] ] [ [http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa02/gmj-fa02-rockwell.htm Global Media Journal ] ]

Education

Rosenthal studied high school at Bilingual School: "Escuela Internacional Sampedrana" in San Pedro Sula, he is a lawyer graduated from UNAH-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (Honduras National Autonomous University) and an Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) from INCAE-Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas (Central American Business Administration Institute). In 1998 the Honduras Supreme Court of Justice granted him the title of Notary public.

Political career

When José Manuel Zelaya Rosales took office in January 27, 2006 as Honduras President, Rosenthal was appointed as Minister of the Presidency. [ [http://www.gob.hn/portal/poder_ejecutivo/secretarias/presidencia/mensaje/ Secretaría de la Presidencia ] ] Due to his lack of any public service experience, his appointment was criticized in the local media, since it was seen as a result of the political negotiations of his father. Jaime Rosenthal Sr. has backed Yani in the political arena in recent years. After the death of his younger brother Jaime in a gun accident, Yani was seen as the natural successor to his father.

His previous experience was very limited. He was advisor of San Pedro Sula municipality when Jerónimo Sandoval Sorto was mayor of the city (1986-1990). Also he was the coordinator of the presidential campaign of his father Jaime Rosenthal and in 2005 after an internal election within the Liberal Party, he was regional coordinator of Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales presidential campaign.

In December 2006 "Diario La Tribuna" ("La Tribuna" newspaper) carried out a poll among a number of broadcasters. It showed that Rosenthal had the highest favorable opinion of all Ministers of Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales Administration. [ [http://www.tiempo.hn/mostrar_noticia.php?id=16637&seccion=7 TIEMPO DIGITAL, El Diario que se lee primero ] ] The results have little statistical merit since the broadcaster's population polled was just over 100 and his family owns several broadcasting companies including television (Canal 11) and a newspaper ("Diario Tiempo") which employ many of the polled broadcasters. On January 24, 2007 CID-Gallup published a public opinion poll. The results indicated that Rosenthal had a 24% favorable opinion.

In December 2006 and January 2007 he suffered severe criticism from his own party members, after he announced the results of an evaluation process of all government ministers and other executives of which he was in charge. Rosenthal was the only minister not evaluated. Several well known members of the Partido Liberal failed the examination and only a few were removed from their posts. [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2007/01/04/aun_no_hay_despedidos La Prensa Diario "Aún no hay despedidos" / 04 / 01 / 2007 ] This internal dispute extended all the way to the Vice President of Honduras Elvin Santos, who declared publicly that Rosenthal was unfit to evaluate him. [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2007/01/12/yani_no_tiene_solvencia_para_evaluarme_elvin La Prensa Diario "Yani no tiene solvencia para evaluarme": Elvin / 12 / 01 / 2007 ]

Rosenthal also headed the process of adjudication of import rights of oil products into the country. This process was adjudicated in 2006 to ConocoPhillips. ChevronTexaco, Exxon and Shell were left out of the importing business in Honduras, in which they had operated for decades. This process which Rosenthal has led with other officials close to President Zelaya has been under constant criticism from the private sector in Honduras, as well as from the government of the United States. [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2007/01/15/la_intromision_de_un_gobierno_no_siempre_es_buena La Prensa Diario "La intromisión de un Gobierno no siempre es buena" ] [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2007/01/15/eua_critica_a_honduras_en_caso_de_combustibles_de_texaco_y_esso La Prensa Diario, EUA critica a Honduras en caso de combustibles de Texaco y Esso / 15 / 01 / 2007 ] ConocoPhilips, despite winning the monopoly rights of importing oil in the country, lacks storage facilities. Chevron, Exxon and Shell have refused to lease to ConnocoPhillips or the Government their respective facilities. After this refusal President Zelaya pushed for an executive mandate to force multinational companies to lease their facilities under a price point set by the government. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN0922175320070210 Honduras court orders handover of oil depots | Reuters ] ]

On January 16, 2007, the US Ambassador in Honduras Charles Ford, expressed publicly his concern derived about the executive mandate to force a lease of oil storage facilities to the government. [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2007/01/16/ford_las_consecuencias_pueden_ser_graves La Prensa Diario, Ford: "Las consecuencias pueden ser graves" / 16 / 01 / 2007 / Ediciones / La Prensa ] ]

On January 17, 2007, President Manuel Zelaya's legal advisor Enrique Flores said the government would not take control of the terminal owned by Chevron, but would take control of two oil storage terminals owned by Honduran company DIPPSA, including one in which Exxon Mobil owns a 50% stake. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN1620353320070117 Honduras says terminals grab hits Exxon, not Chevron | Reuters ] ]

On December 31, 2007, Yani Rosenthal resigned as Minister of the Presidency. He is currently running to be elected in the internal primary election within the Liberal Party to become the candidate for the 2010 Honduras Presidency.

On September 18, 2007, Arcadia, an American NGO, declared through CNN that there were signs of corruption which involved a cable company owned by the Rosenthal family in Honduras. This company was pressumably involved in "gray traficking", in violating of Honduran law. Despite this report which was also previously published in Mexican newspaper El Universal (Mexico City), no legal action so far has been taken against any of the Rosenthal family companies. [http://www.laprensahn.com/ediciones/2007/09/18/denuncia_de_corrupcion_en_hondutel_llega_a_cnn]

Notes