Protest against corruption in Guatemala demanding the resignation of the ex-president in 2015. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Todos los derechos reservados. <\/i><\/p>\n
The International
\nCommission Against Impunity in Guatemala (ICAIG) was created on the 12th
\nof December 2006 through an agreement with the UN and the Guatemalan
\ngovernment, after a favourable ruling by the Constitutional Court. The
\nagreement was approved later by the Guatemalan National Congress on the 1st
\nof August 2007.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ICAIG was
\nestablished as an independent international body with the intention of
\nsupporting the Public Ministry, the national police force and other state
\ninstitutions, in their endeavours to investigate crimes committed by members of
\nillegal organisations and clandestine security structures, to dismantle and
\ncharge these groups, and to strengthen institutions.<\/p>\n
Since the
\ncommission was created, it has sentenced individuals for crimes against
\nhumanity and many others await sentencing for charges of corruption on a large
\nscale. <\/p>\n
It must be remembered that in Guatelama, an ex-president and an
\nex-vice-president are currently behind bars and many members of the military
\nhave been charged as responsible for massacres. <\/p>\n
The prosecutor Iv\u00e1n Vel\u00e1squez
\nG\u00f3mez has a positive perspective regarding the acchievements of the ICAIG, the
\ndifficulties it has had to face throughout the previous years and the potential
\nis has to acchieve substantial changes for Guatemala.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Zepeda:<\/strong> Corrupt individuals have not stood idly by up against these legal actions declared against them and they are trying to get rid of the ICAIG and those who direct it in whatever way they can.<\/p>\n Iv\u00e1n Vel\u00e1squez:<\/strong> JZ:<\/strong> Did you say IV:<\/strong> In the wake The Property Registration Booty is a corruption case in which This case This generates certain difficulties There has just JZ:<\/strong> At this Corrupt individuals have IV:<\/strong> Yes, I\u2019m It was said that This confrontation exists today between those who propose to sustain the current state of impunity that has existed for decades in Guatemala and the action of the Public Ministry.<\/p>\n These events and We have informed JZ:<\/strong> However, the IC:<\/strong> The message JZ:<\/strong> It can\u2019t be IV:<\/strong> Of course, The present This JZ:<\/strong> In the There exists a serious danger that my visa won\u2019t be renewed after the month of September. I hope the government acts in accordance with the order of the Constitutional Court from last year, when my expulsion from the country was ordered.<\/p>\n IV:<\/strong> Yes, of course. The court declared that any discussion regarding the handling of the We trust that this decision is respected by the JZ: <\/strong>The second IV:<\/strong> The 3rd The If this link JZ:<\/strong> Guatemala IV:<\/strong> Out of all There\u2019s a relationship between the misappropriation of public funds and the lack of action in searching for solutions in favour of disadvantaged communities, a relationship between corruption, human rights and impunity.<\/p>\n The JZ:<\/strong> I suspect IV:<\/strong> Our desire JZ: <\/strong>That was <\/p>\n IV:<\/strong> Based on the perspective already discussed, This is the request that we Protest against corruption in Guatemala demanding the resignation of the ex-president in 2015. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Todos los derechos reservados. The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (ICAIG) was created on the 12th of December 2006 through an agreement with the UN and the Guatemalan government, after a favourable ruling by the Constitutional Court. The…<\/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-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","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=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nUndertaking the task of contributing to the normalisation of a rule of law that
\nensures justice is achieved and corrupt individuals are taken to court is
\nwithout a doubt a costly task economically and politically..\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIn Guatemala there is huge citizen support which is entirely necessary to carry
\nout our work, and more so now that there is a contradiction with the
\ngovernment. Without this support, it would have been impossible for us to
\nfunction properly. We also have the backing of the international political
\ncommunity, from the likes of the USA, Sweden and the EU.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\ncontradiction with the government?<\/p>\n
\nof a judicial investigation, the son of the president, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Morales, and
\nthe brother of the governor, Samuel Morales Cabrera, have been implicated in a
\nseries of events relating to an entity linked to the previous government of the
\nPatriotic Party. <\/p>\n
\naccording to a report by the public ministry and the ICAIG, involved taking
\nstate funds under the premise of event simulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\ndetermined a change in the attitude of the president Jimmy Morales regarding
\nthe activity of the Commission. The explicit support he had expressed during
\nand after the electoral campaign began to diminish towards the end of 2016 and
\nsince January of 2017, when his family members were linked to the judicial
\nprocess, his support has ceased to exist. <\/p>\n
\neven though the most important thing for the ICAIG is to count on the public
\nministry for support which is who we collaborate with when carrying out
\ninvestigations to take down criminal organisations. Ever since I\u2019ve been a part
\nof the Commission this collaboration has been solid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nbeen a change with the Attorney General around May. Now we\u2019re in a new stage of
\ncoupling with the new prosecutor Mar\u00eda Consuelo Porras to continue our work. We
\ntrust that the new prosecutor will be eager and willing to contribute to the
\nfight against corruption.<\/p>\n
\ntime, 6 million dollars, destined to finance the Comission, are frozen, as a
\nresult of the workings of the so called hidden powers. <\/p>\n
\nnot stood idly by up against these legal actions declared against them and they
\nare trying to get rid of the ICAIG and those who
\ndirect it in whatever way they can. Do you have confidence this will be resolved soon?<\/p>\n
\nconfident that it will be resolved very soon. There was an improper use of
\ninformation from an investigation about a Russian family in which the ICAIG
\nparticipated. Through fake news in the US, the ICAIG was labelled as a
\nrepresentative of Russian interests in Guatemala.<\/p>\n
\nthis family had arrived to Guatemala fleeing from persecution in Russia.
\nHowever, the judicial analysis shows that after illegally entering the country,
\nthey bought three fake identities for 150,000 dollars.<\/p>\n
\ncircumstances have been taken advantage of by people affected by the ICAIG\u2019s
\ninvestigations with a significant incidence on social networks. The distorted
\ninformation that they generated eventually led to US senator Marco Rubio to
\nrequest the freezing of funds destined to the ICAIG until the situation was
\ncleared up.<\/p>\n
\nthese individuals of everything required, and we are convinced it will come to
\nlight that the accusations are completely false, and that the weight of the Commission,
\nwhose undertaking also interests the US in their fight against corruption in
\nthe northern triangle of Central America, will lead to the funds being released
\nswiftly.<\/p>\n
\nretention of economic resources provokes a perverse effect: it sends a message
\nthat encourages corrupt individuals to continue\u2026<\/p>\n
\nis negative because this shows it\u2019s possible to affect serious, objective
\ninvestigations that have substantial popular support through other non-judicial
\nmeans. The message is that there are ways to affect judicial processes and the
\nsmooth functioning of the Commission.<\/p>\n
\na coincidence that over these past days, important members of the Guatemalan
\nCongress have raised their voice against non-governmental organisations, that impact
\non the development of the country, with the same old argument that they
\nthreaten national sovereignty.<\/p>\n
\nthere\u2019s a difficult situation in Guatemala currently. All sectors affected by
\nthe fight against impunity have embarked on a crusade against everything the
\nmovement has come to stand for, the campaign against impunity, and the fight
\nagainst corruption.<\/p>\n
\nmoment is of great importance for the country and for a fight that consists of
\nsearching for the democratic conditions that allow the existence of rule of law
\nto be affirmed, which is what the justice administration must contribute to.<\/p>\n
\nconfrontation exists today between those who propose to sustain the current
\nstate of impunity that has existed for decades in Guatemala and the action of
\nthe Public Ministry, the collaboration of the international community through
\nthe ICAIG and the reaction of citizens with hope for transformation. We hope
\nthis will tip in favour of democracy.<\/p>\n
\ncontext of this onslaught against the ICAIG, two key dates are approaching. The
\nfirst in the month of August, in which your visa to remain in the country must
\nbe renewed. I have no doubt there will be plenty who will pressure for your
\nvisa to be denied..<\/p>\n
\nThere exists a serious danger that my visa won\u2019t be renewed after the month of
\nSeptember. I hope the government acts in accordance with the order of the
\nConstitutional Court from last year, when my expulsion from the country was
\nordered. <\/p>\n
\nICAIG and the Commission in Guatemala should be dealt with in New York, between
\nthe UN and the government. <\/p>\n
\nConstitutional Court and that it doesn\u2019t resort to mechanisms like that of not
\nprocessing visas in preparation for my expulsion from Guatemala.<\/p>\n
\nkey date is this coming year, in which your mandate will be renovated.<\/p>\n
\nof September is the end dare of the ICAIG mandate, unless the president
\nrequests that it continues which is the necessary means through which the UN
\nand the Guatemalan government must foresee the extension of the mandate.<\/p>\n
\ncircumstances are difficult because the ICAIG and the Public Ministry are
\ncarrying out an investigation into illicit electoral financing against the
\nparty currently in power and certain entrepreneurs that anonymously financed
\nthe presidential campaign in 2015 and the president of the public could become
\nimplicated in these claims.<\/p>\n
\nbecomes a real possibility, the Public Ministry would have to formulate a
\npreliminary trial request with the ICAIG before the Congress of the Republic.
\nThe effect this has on the president will no doubt influence the decision
\nwhether to renovate the mandate.<\/p>\n
\nhas been profoundly affected by the eruption of the Volc\u00e1n de Fuego last June. This
\nhas been a concern of the ICAIG because certain state representatives have
\nstolen public money that should have been put towards providing the poorest
\nsectors of the country with dignified living conditions.<\/p>\n
\nthe issues relating to corruption that have been dealt with in Guatemala, there
\nis a direct relationship with the deficient material conditions of the majority
\nof the population. Levels of infant malnutrition in children under 4 are around
\n46% of this age group and these figures are completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\nsituation is very serious. In other words, there\u2019s a relationship between the
\nmisappropriation of public funds and the lack of action in searching for
\nsolutions in favour of disadvantaged communities, a relationship between corruption,
\nhuman rights and impunity. It\u2019s a vicious cycle that for as long as it
\ncontinues, the country will be unable to search for ways to improve the
\nsituation for its inhabitants.<\/p>\n
\nthat in the international sphere, the everyday Guatemalan reality is relatively
\nunknown, and this affects the approach that say European countries for example
\nhave to the situation.<\/p>\n
\nis to promote a greater understanding of the ICAIG and the situation in
\nGuatemala. The need to gain backing from the international community by establishing
\na truly democratic state where the rule of law prevails is in all our
\ninterests. A universal desire to support the process of democratic state
\nconstruction and consolidation must exist.<\/p>\n
\nprecisely where I was going. So, the ideal scenario would be that EU member and
\nnon-member states raised their voices more regarding the situation in Guatemala
\nand the work of the ICAIG?<\/p>\n
\nthis would be the desirable situation because democracy should be a good that
\nwe\u2019re all interested in. Inasmuch as democratic governments exist,
\ninternational harmony would be much more viable.<\/p>\n
\nhave formulated: to look at Guatemala, to look at Central America, to look at
\nthe entirety of the issue in Latin America to see how, from Europe and beyond,
\nother countries can contribute to improving the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"