The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, called his ambassador in Guatemala, Victoria González Ariza, for consultation, after the Prosecutor’s Office of that country indicated the former commissioner of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig), Iván Velásquez, to endorse illegal agreements in the Odebrecht case.
Cicig was an organization created between the Guatemalan government and the United Nations Organization to investigate cases of corruption in the Central American country between 2013 and 2017. Velásquez directed the organization then. He is currently Minister of Defense in Colombia.
“I will never accept an arrest warrant for our minister Velásquez. He has demonstrated his fight against corruption and we will not allow corruption to persecute him. Our ambassador is immediately called for consultation,” public the president of Colombia on his Twitter account.
Shortly after the president’s message was released, Velásquez wanted to thank him for “his expressions of solidarity and trust.” “We know the monster, we have seen it up close and, from different trenches, we have fought it. We know how it transforms and the methods it uses, but it does not frighten us,” he pointed in a tweet.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity of Guatemala assures that Velásquez and the former official Luz Adriana Camargo requested changes and approvals in collaboration agreements with two directors of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
According to prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, the first investigations show that the former commissioner and the official had “full knowledge of the dark and corrupt negotiations that were taking place with the Odebrecht company.”
“The Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity will take legal action so that the former Cicig commissioner, Iván Velásquez, answers for his illegal and abusive acts,” Curruchiche said in an official message.
Given the facts, Velásquez issued a release in which he assured that he has not been notified of “any requirement” by the Guatemalan authorities. Likewise, he said that his work at the head of Cicig was “transparent and within the legal framework that protected the operation of the Commission.”
At the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, a Guatemalan court has already ordered the arrest of the former attorney general of that country, Thelma Esperanza Aldana, and the former Cicig president, David Gaitán, for the crimes of “obstruction of justice, conspiracy and abuse of authority.”
The latter assured in a release that the Public Ministry of Guatemala intends to “privilege actors who received more than 20 million dollars in bribes and stop the investigations carried out against other responsible parties.”
While Aldana remains in the United States under asylum.
reactions
The State Department’s Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, said he was concerned about the arrest warrants in the Central American country.
“We are concerned about the arrest warrants from @MPguatemala against people who worked to guarantee #Accountability for corruption in the Odebrecht case in Guatemala. Such actions undermine the #RuleOfLaw and trust in the Guatemalan justice system,” public on his Twitter account.
Likewise, the deputy director for the Americas of Human Right Watch, Juan Pappier, he pointed on his Twitter account that the investigations against the former commissioner “do not make much sense.”
“Guatemalan justice is co-opted by corrupt actors seeking revenge for the courageous work of Cicig. The only response this recent criminal investigation deserves is condemnation from the international community,” added Pappier.
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