Thousands demand the resignation of Otto P\u00e9rez Molina. La Opini\u00f3n. All rights reserved<\/i><\/p>\n
As part of the peace agreements
\nin Guatemala, a United Nations commission was set up on
\nDecember 12, 2006: the International Commission against
\nImpunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Its mission was to
\nassist the Guatemalan government in carrying out criminal investigations and
\nproceeding with the punishment of those found guilty through
\ninstitutional channels, in a
\ncountry which is used to resolving conflicts with
\nbullets.<\/p>\n
The combined existence of the CICIG and the efforts of an extremely virtuous Attorney-General,
\nClaudia Paz y Paz, produced an actual institutional revolution in the
\ncountry. Murders were punished,
\nformer President Efra\u00edn Rios Montt became the first
\nhead of state to be convicted of genocide by a national court, and for the first time corruption cases began to be investigated.<\/p>\n
This shook the wasps\u2019 nest. Claudia Paz y Paz was
\nnot reappointed and the government threatened to
\nrequest the dismantlement of the CICIG.<\/p>\n
The massive citizen mobilization,
\nthe courageous work of some independent
\nmedia outlets and intense international pressure were the
\nkey elements which enabled the CICIG to carry on with
\nits job and ensured continued public
\nattention to the scandals that were
\nbeing revealed.<\/p>\n
A
\ncorruption scheme was eventually unearthed and it took Vice-President Roxana
\nBaldetti with it. Big demonstrations took
\nto the streets of the capital. She resigned.
\nThe investigation got as far as President P\u00e9rez Molina. He said he
\nwould not leave. The demonstrations reached unprecedented levels. Congress withdrew the President\u2019s immunity and he too finally
\nresigned. He was immediately arrested.<\/p>\n
Celebrations due to the resignation of Otto P\u00e9rez Molina. El Tiempo. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n
Just to make things more exciting, while the crisis developed, presidential elections were
\nin full swing. P\u00e9rez Molina\u2019s
\ncandidate Manuel Baldiz\u00f3n, who was the clear favourite before the
\nmobilizations, did not make it to the second round. Who came first (and
\neventually won) the second round on October 25? Jimmy Morales, a comedian.<\/p>\n
It is hard to describe who Morales is. His
\ncampaign, based on his TV popularity, focused
\non fighting the establishment, politicians, and politics. The problem
\nis that Jimmy Morales ran for the party of the right-wing military. And he received support – and financing,
\nof course – from businessmen who
\nsupported P\u00e9rez Molina and collaborated with his government. The large
\nstudent mobilizations that led to
\nthe downfall of the Vicepresident,
\nand later the President himself, obviously did not want this outcome.<\/p>\n
What
\ncan we learn from all this?<\/p>\n
Guatemala is the radical
\nexpression of a crisis affecting almost every country in Latin America. The last decades have
\nwitnessed huge progress (depending on the country) in
\ntransparency policies, thanks to the strengthening of anti-corruption institutions
\nand a new kind of citizen mobilization, highly demanding and autonomous, independent of the
\ntraditional parties and movements. The great promise
\nwas that this would alter, by
\nitself, the political culture of corruption
\nin our countries. This has not happened.
\nNeither in Guatemala, nor in Chile, nor in Mexico,
\nnor in Brazil.<\/p>\n
All of these countries \u2013 among
\nothers \u2013 are ultimately undergoing similar crises, arising
\nfrom the clash between the new bodies
\nfighting corruption and the old political culture. Their coexistence is unsustainable. Many
\nobservers believe that the existing political
\nculture will necessarily give in
\nto these new bodies. But this is
\na risky bet. The next wave
\nmay very well be one of institutional setbacks led by the old corruption colonels.<\/p>\n
Demonstrations
\nfired by righteous indignation against
\ncorruption are essential for political change. But they are not sufficient. If there is not a determined effort to
\ncarry through a true transformation
\nof the political culture, to radically
\nchange how campaigns are financed, and to create new forms of citizen engagement in politics, these mobilizations could be captured by
\nprofiteers who promise change, so that everything remains the same.<\/p>\n
This article was previously Thousands demand the resignation of Otto P\u00e9rez Molina. La Opini\u00f3n. All rights reserved As part of the peace agreements in Guatemala, a United Nations commission was set up on December 12, 2006: the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Its mission was to assist the Guatemalan government in carrying out criminal investigations and proceeding…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\npublished by Asuntos del Sur<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"