When Bernardo Arévalo campaigned for the presidency of Guatemala in 2023, he focused on the fight against corruption, a promise that resonated deeply in a tired society. But its objective has found a wall that prevents it from moving forward: the Public Ministry.
Since the beginning of the year, the government of President Arévalo has presented 198 complaints of corruption involving individuals and former officials of the government of Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024), of which 18.7% were dismissed and the rest did not make any progress, he said. in an interview with The Associated Press the executive director of the National Commission against Corruption, Julio Flores.
“The prosecutor’s office is an obstacle to the development of the State,” said the head of the entity that must respond to Arévalo’s promise. “The lack of commitment to anti-corruption from the Prosecutor’s Office makes it difficult to guarantee the development” of the country, he added.
The AP consulted the Communication Directorate of the Public Ministry about its position, but did not receive a response.
Arévalo has repeatedly asked for the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras, whom he accuses of protecting the corrupt. But Porras, sanctioned by the United States for undermining democracy in Guatemala, has managed to remain in office, which expires in 2026.
For Porras to be removed, changes are needed to the organic law of the Public Ministry—which requires a firm conviction against her. The pro-government deputies have also made a request for reform of the norm that has not yet advanced in Congress.
With the aim of fulfilling its campaign promise, the government has created the National Commission Against Corruption that presents complaints and tries to recover part of what was defrauded from the State and will send two bills to Congress next week, Flores explained.
The first initiative seeks to protect whistleblowers. “Those who take the courage to report find themselves unprotected and criminalized,” said the commissioner. The law will provide protection measures against possible retaliation.
In this sense, the commissioner recalled the case of irregularities in the purchase of Sputnik vaccines against COVID-19 from Russia during the Giammattei government.
“Millions of quetzales lost, lives lost, however, what the prosecutor’s office did was initiate actions against the Attorney General of the Nation, Julio Saavedra (who had made the complaint). So, those who are in favor of the fight against corruption are the criminalized ones,” Flores said.
The other refers to the registry of final beneficiaries of public resources, since in the vast majority of reported cases, names or corporations are used to hide the recipients of illicit profits.
According to Manfredo Marroquín, director of Acción Ciudadana—the Guatemalan chapter of Transparency International—the government fell short of its promise to fight corruption. “The population had an expectation of a more energetic government,” he said.
Regarding the role of the Prosecutor’s Office, he maintained that “it has been an impediment to the anti-corruption fight, but it has also generated an environment of impunity that is very harmful to the country, which remains trapped in this politicization of justice and the judicialization of politics.”
According to the 2023 Corruption Index prepared by Transparency International, Guatemala ranked 154 out of 180 countries evaluated, the worst rating the Central American nation has received.
Human rights groups denounced last month that the Prosecutor’s Office “generates injustice and impunity” because it has also stopped prosecuting common crimes, such as violence against women, and criminalizes those who try to investigate irregularities.
In a report they highlighted that Porras’ management has decreased the obtaining of sentences for various crimes by 30% and “87% of the total complaints were dismissed and filed, generating systemic impunity.”
But it is not only the government and social organizations that complain about the inaction of the Prosecutor’s Office. International organizations have pointed out an alleged abuse of power.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, based in Washington and which visited the country in the middle of the year, said that the Prosecutor’s Office is not objective and asked the State to carry out “an independent examination of the functioning of the Public Ministry and its impact on human rights.” humans.”
The Prosecutor’s Office also maintains an attack against members of the ruling party and against President Arévalo himself—whom he has requested that his immunity be withdrawn on several occasions—in the framework of an investigation into the financing of the Semilla Movement. At the same time, he tried to prevent Arévalo from participating as a presidential candidate in the second electoral round and even sought, without success, to annul the elections that Arévalo won with broad popular support due to alleged fraud.
Porras, like several of her prosecutors, has been sanctioned by more than 40 countries that have prohibited her from entering their territories, for hindering the anti-corruption fight and democracy in Guatemala.
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