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Attacks on Guatemala’s Anti-Corruption President Growing
by Alex Papadovassilakis, 15 Aug 2024
https://insightcrime.org/news/attacks-on-guatemalas-anti-corruption-president-growing/
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 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 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 Guatemala’s political apparatus – dominated by elite corruption networks – by sneaking into the August 2023 presidential run-off, which he won by a landslide.
Porras made repeated attempts to overturn the election results, her office’s campaign leading to the cancellation 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 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 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 and plundering funds destined for infrastructure, health, education, and poverty relief.
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