Guatemala ups persecution of those who pursued the corrupt

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The Guatemalan government’s effort to undo more than a decade of United Nations-backed anti-corruption work moved even beyond its borders this week, in what experts say is an election year attempt to assure conservative voters its like won’t be seen again.

Guatemalan prosecutors announced their intention to pursue legal action against Colombian Iván Velásquez, who led the U.N.’s anti-corruption mission in Guatemala. Velásquez, who is now Colombia’s defense minister, and prosecutors the U.N. helped train dealt blow after blow to Guatemalan corruption over 12 years until the government refused to renew their mandate in 2019.

Since then, the administration of President Alejandro Giammattei has been accused by civil society organizations and foreign governments of systemically pursuing those who worked with the U.N. mission, best known by its Spanish initial CICIG.

Some 30 judges, magistrates and prosecutors involved in the investigation or processing of those corruption cases have been forced to flee the country after facing legal action from the current administration.

Giammattei is not eligible for re-election in June, but his Vamos party will put forward a national lawmaker as its candidate. The election promises to be a free-for-all with some 30 parties participating. No Guatemalan party has ever been re-elected to the presidency for consecutive terms.

“This fits with an electoral purpose. It is an indirect electoral offering for those sectors that are benefitting or are going to benefit from the dismantling of everything that has to do with the CICIG,” said Tiziano Breda, a Latin America expert with the Italy-based Istituto Affari Internazionali. “And it assures that in the case of the continuation of this government the dismantling will...