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August 16, 2024


** Corruption and Impunity Characterize Guatemalan State and Government
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** Traditional elites maintain next to complete corrupt control over institutions of the State and branches of government

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As documented in our book TESTIMONIO-Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala ([link removed]) , the corruption and impunity that benefits the global mining and for-export agricultural industries is widespread through most institutions of the State and branches of government.

While the 2023 elections finally brought an actually democratic party to the Presidency and executive branch, this article lays bare how little power President Bernardo Arevalo and his government have.

Business as usual in Guatemala for US and Canadian governments, global ag-industry and resource extraction companies

Attacks on Guatemala’s Anti-Corruption President Growing
by Alex Papadovassilakis ([link removed]) , 15 Aug 2024
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The arrest of a cabinet member in Guatemala marks an ominous escalation of a spurious legal crusade aimed at derailing the administration of President Bernardo Arévalo, which has prioritized the country’s long standing fight against corruption and organized crime.

Ligia Hernández, head of the government’s victim advocacy institute, was arrested by Guatemalan police on August 13. She faces charges ([link removed]) related to unreported campaign donations, part of a criminal investigation into Hernández and Arévalo’s political party, the Seed Movement (Movimiento Semilla). It comes amid a barrage of legal attacks on the Arévalo administration, led by Attorney General Consuelo Porras.

Hernández is the first member of Arévalo’s cabinet to be arrested as part of Porras’ legal crusade, which began last year and focuses on accusations of electoral fraud for which prosecutors have provided little coherent evidence. Arévalo and Semilla have dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.

In a video ([link removed]) published on social media shortly before arrest, Hernández described the charges against her arrest as a “desperate attack” aimed at blocking efforts to reverse entrenched corruption. On August 14, authorities transferred Hernández to a military prison, where she awaits her initial hearing.

Hernández’s arrest is the latest in a string of legal attacks that have rattled Semilla. These began shortly after Arévalo rocked ([link removed]) Guatemala’s political apparatus – dominated by elite corruption networks – by sneaking into the August 2023 presidential run-off, which he won ([link removed]) by a landslide.

Porras made repeated attempts to overturn the election results, her office’s campaign leading to the cancellation ([link removed]) of Semilla’s legal status as party and exposing a string of senior officials – including the president and Semilla congress officials – to the threat of prosecution over highly-disputed claims of electoral fraud.

InSight Crime Analysis

Hernández’s arrest signals a new phase in a high-stakes legal battle between Porras and Arévalo. The outcome of this tussle could determine the trajectory of the administration’s anti-corruption plans, broadly focused on ousting compromised staff from key government institutions and exposing graft schemes linked to previous administrations, some of which implicate Porras’ allies.

The arrest of a senior administration official suggests Porras is ramping up a relentless campaign aimed at sinking the Arévalo government. Weeks earlier, Porras lobbied ([link removed]) the country’s Constitutional Court – the country’s highest legal authority – in the hope of deposing other senior officials, including Arévalo’s finance minister, press secretary, and his top lawyer. She also asked the court to facilitate Arévalo’s prosecution, one of several – so far, unsuccessful – attempts aimed at stripping the president of political immunity.

Porras’ attacks have faced widespread criticism at home and abroad; she faces sanctions over alleged corruption in over 42 countries.

In response, Arévalo has made repeated attempts to remove the attorney general via legal means, all of which have become unstuck in congress and the courts.

Removing the attorney general is seen as crucial to enacting anti-corruption reforms. During her six-year tenure, Porras has overseen the dismantling of Guatemala’s legal and judicial infrastructure, including a ruthless crackdown ([link removed]) against anti-impunity prosecutors and judges that has sent dozens into exile and landed others in jail.

Meanwhile, her office has shelved almost all of the country’s most high-profile corruption cases, including investigations into former presidents, high-ranking congressional officials, and magistrates from the country’s highest courts.

Porras’ crusade is, in part, an exercise in self-preservation. If removed, she would lose her political immunity and could well become the main target of the next attorney general.

Years of backsliding on corruption has paralyzed efforts to dismantle elite criminal networks, which have spent decades consolidating control of key state institutions ([link removed]) and plundering funds destined for infrastructure, health, education, and poverty relief.

Background

Bitter white-washing of U.S. role in Guatemala by author of “Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala”

By Grahame Russell, Rights Action
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Rights Action (U.S. & Canada)

Since 1995, Rights Action funds land, justice, human rights and democracy struggles, environment, community development and emergency relief projects in Guatemala and Honduras. Rights Action works to hold accountable the U.S. and Canadian governments, multi-national companies, investors and banks (World Bank, etc.) that help cause and profit from exploitation and poverty, repression and human rights violations, environmental harms, corruption and impunity in Honduras and Guatemala. Find, in our archives ([link removed]), some of the community defense struggles Rights Action has supported since 1995.

Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)

To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights, justice and democracy defense struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: Box 82858, RPO Cabbagetown Toronto, ON, M5A 3Y2

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