Yani Rosenthal

Yani Benjamin Rosenthal Hidalgo was born on July 14, 1965, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, into the prominent Jewish-Honduran Rosenthal family. His parents are Jaime Rosenthal and Miriam Marina Hidalgo de Rosenthal.

He has a sister, Patricia, and three brothers: Jaime (deceased), Carlos José and César Augusto. He is married to Claudia Madrid. They have four daughters: Isabella, Victoria, Elissa and Alexandra.^{[citation needed]}

He completed his primary and secondary education at the Escuela Internacional Sampedrana in San Pedro Sula. Rosenthal earned a law degree from the UNAH-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (Honduras National Autonomous University) in 1987. He later pursued a Master’s in Business Administration at INCAE Business School, where he graduated at the top of his class with summa cum laude honors in 2000. In 1998 the Honduras Supreme Court of Justice granted him the title of Notary public.^{[citation needed]}

In 1993 his house suffered damage from a bomb attack. Rosenthal was Director of Diario Tiempo, part of the Grupo Continental business conglomerate, (Honduras Times Newspaper) and published a series of articles about military abuses, and, as his home was the temporary shelter for a witness to a military-performed killing, it has been alleged that the military was involved in the bomb attack.^[2]

Rosenthal began his political involvement as an activist for the Liberal Party (Honduras) at a young age. He served as an alternate member of the Liberal Party's Central Executive Committee from 2001 to 2005 and later became a full member, holding the position of Secretary of International Relations from 2005 to 2009.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, following the election of Manuel Zelaya as President of Honduras, Rosenthal was appointed Minister of the Presidency. Rosenthal became a central figure in the administration and gained public recognition. A 2006 Diario La Tribuna poll indicated he had the highest favorable opinion among Zelaya’s ministers.^{[citation needed]}

On 31 December 2007, Rosenthal resigned as Minister of the Presidency to pursue the Liberal Party's 2009 presidential nomination. He initially ran in the party’s primary elections but later allied with Roberto Micheletti. His movement was ultimately unsuccessful in the 2008 internal elections. Despite this, Rosenthal remained politically active and was elected as a congressman for the 2010–2014 term.^{[citation needed]}

During his tenure in Congress, Rosenthal was a vocal critic of President Porfirio Lobo’s 2010 tax reform package, arguing that the new taxes disproportionately affected Honduras’ poorest citizens.^{[citation needed]}

In 2012, he ran as a presidential pre-candidate but did not secure the nomination. After a period of political inactivity due to legal challenges in the United States, Rosenthal returned to Honduras in 2020, where he revived his Yanista Movement and won the Liberal Party (Honduras)'s 2021 presidential nomination. He placed third in the November 2021 general elections, but remained an influential figure within the party.^{[citation needed]}

In 2024, he played a key role in welcoming prominent political figures Salvador Nasralla and Jorge Cálix into the party ahead of the 2025 internal elections. This move led to the largest turnout for the party in years, reinforcing its position as a major political force.

In 2015, Yani Rosenthal, along with his cousin Yankel Rosenthal and his father Jaime Rosenthal, was indicted under the Kingpin Act by U.S. authorities.

Ultimately, both Yani and Yankel Rosenthal pled guilty to crimes involving money laundering and providing financial services to drug traffickers on December 15, 2017 and August 16, 2017 respectively.^[3][1] Yani Rosenthal was sentenced to 36 months and Yankel Rosenthal was sentenced to 29 months in Federal U.S. Prison.^[3][1]

The U.S. government sought to extradite Jaime Rosenthal, but the request was unsuccessful. Jaime Rosenthal remained in Honduras, where he died on 12 January 2019.^[4][1]