Twelve years after having settled in Guatemala and after multiple struggles for the non-renewal of its mandate, from today the International Commission against Impunity is no longer operating.
In August 2007, the Congress of the Republic approved the creation of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which arrived in the country with the mission of investigating criminal structures operating within government institutions, work done in association with the Public Prosecutor's Office.
Guatemalan authorities, the only country in the region that is negotiating the FTA with Korea unilaterally, announced that they will speed up efforts to sign the agreement before the end of the year.
The announcement was made by President Jimmy Morales in the company of the Minister of Economy, Acisclo Valladares Urruela, before the members of the board of directors of the National Coffee Association (Anacafé), which is one of the sectors that is demanding the adhesion of the country to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Central America and South Korea.
Arguing that "it has violated human rights in Guatemala through selective and partial justice", President Morales decided to end the mandate of the United Nations International Commission against Impunity.
After more than ten years of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), the Morales administration announced in 2018 that it would not renew the agreement with the United Nations that establishes the foreign institution dedicated to criminal investigation.
In El Salvador, the integrated border posts El Poy, in Chalatenango, the first to have the necessary infrastructure to operate within the framework of the customs integration of the Northern Triangle, became operational.
After the adaptation of the border post, the infrastructure and computer systems of El Poy are practically ready to operate, however, the products that will have free circulation between the three countries and which goods will continue to be protected have yet to be defined.
Arguing that it is time to "strengthen State institutions," President Morales has announced that he will not renew the mandate of the International Commission against Impunity, whose term expires in a year.
The controversial decision by the Guatemalan government, which was announced over the weekend, is based, according to Morales, on the idea that after ten years of work by the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), the time has come to transfer its capabilities over to the State.
Guatemalan businesses have declared persona non grata congressmen who voted for a law which exempted general secretaries of political parties from responsibility in matters relating to illicit electoral financing and increased the possibility of commuting prison sentences with money.
The law, popularly known as the "Corruption Pact", was heavily resisted by Guatemalan society.Pressure from the populace, together with a resolution contrary to the norm from the Constitutional Court, forced Congress to backtrack and archive the law.
The way in which the Guatemalan Congress approved reforms to the Penal Code, "suggests that its objective could be to ensure impunity in the country and through this take a backwards step in the fight for a true and effective Rule of Law."
Although President Morales said he was ready to analyze the reforms approved and veto them if they proved to be "harmful to the people of Guatemala," the very fact that Congress has approved them with such speed and simplicity reflects the delicate political crisis that the country is in.
With the decision of Congress not to remove immunity from President Morales, the Public Ministry and the Cicig have been prevented from continuing the investigation into irregular electoral financing.
As expected, the Guatemalan Congress decided to vote against the request for legal action filed by the Public Prosecutor to waive the immunity of Jimmy Morales.This means that the president is spared, at least for now, from being tried in the case of allegedillicit electoralfinancing.
The Supreme Court of Justice has agreed to uphold the request filed by the Public Ministry and the CICIG against the president, and now deputies must launch an investigation.
The political crisis affecting the country has been accentuated in the last few hours with a decision by the Supreme Court of Justice to send to Congress the file requesting a preliminary hearing.
The Constitutional Court has suspended, in definitive from, the order given by President Jimmy Morales to expel the leader of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala from the country.
"...Acting without the accompaniment of his ministers, as ordered by the Constitution, inconsistency in the dates and non use of the process to resolve disputes established in the agreement between the Government of Guatemala and the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig) are the main reasons why the Constitutional Court (CC) yesterday ordered the definitive suspension of the expulsion from the country of Iván Velásquez, head of the Cicig."
Four petitions for pre trial hearings have already been lodged against President Morales, following his request to expel the leader of the International Commission against Impunity from Guatemala.
EDITORIAL
In less than a week a series of events took place which have left the country on tenterhooks.The Public Ministry and the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig) filed a petition for a pre trial hearing against President Morales for alleged illicit electoral financing; Morales declared the Commission of the Cicig, Iván Velásquez, persona non grata, and requested his expulsion from the country. In response to this, three other requests for preliminary hearings have been filed in the last few hours.
Amid the controversy over corruption cases revealed by the Public Ministry, the Morales administration has announced that it will liquidate contracts and take over several highway construction and maintenance projects.
A government issued decree of a State of Public Calamity on the roads will have a term of 30 days, during which period the Morales administration plans to take over control and execution of several of the works that are underway.Without indicating how much will be invested in the process, the Executive explained that it will buy machinery and equipment to carry out repairs and construction of roads.The Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing will be in charge, with the support of the Ministry of National Defense.
The Morales administration has announced that they will be formalizing the crossing between Ingenieros, Quiché, and Nueva Orizaba, Chiapas, in order to facilitate cross-border trade in that area.
As part of this project, Foreign Minister Carlos Raúl Morales explained that a 19 kilometer road to Playa Grande is also planned.
With an international loan of $300 million, the Morales administration plans to build two prisons and twelve judicial complexes, and buy 1,500 patrol vehicles.
Through the Ministry of Public Finances the government is petitioning Congress for approval of a $300 million loan with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE).The government's plan is to execute these projects within six years.
The company Empresa Portuaria Santo Tomás de Castilla has paid the Guatemalan state nearly $11 million, equivalent to 7% of its profits in 2016.
From Diario de Centroamérica:
"..President Jimmy Morales, representing the State, yesterday received Q84.3 million from the Port Santo Tomas de Castilla (Empornac), equivalent to 7 percent of the dividend income that the institution received in 2016, reported the GuatemalanNews Agency.
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