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CENTRAL
AMERICA |
Corruption and Assassination
Plot in Guatemala
GUATEMALA - Corruption, which is deeply
rooted in any sector of Guatemalan society,
made headlines again this week when the
murky transactions of a recently-removed
minister were revealed.
Raul Velazquez was removed from the post of
interior minister on February 28, when he
was accused of anomalies in the purchase of
fuel stamps for the National Civil Police.
However, a warrant for his arrest was issued
on Tuesday, when it was confirmed that he
had used part of those state funds to buy a
luxury residence in the outskirts of
Guatemala City.
The former minister's whereabouts is
unknown, so he is currently a fugitive who
has also been accused of laundering the rest
of the money that the Ministry of Interior
paid out to the company Maskana.
This week, Guatemalans also learned about a
plot to assassinate opposition lawmaker
Nineth Montenegro, who told a news
conference that she had been warned about
that possibility.
She pointed out that the new interior
minister, Carlos Menocal, and the president
of the International Commission against
Impunity in Guatemala, Carlos Castresana,
summoned her to a meeting to brief her about
the investigation into the assassination
plot.
They said it is an assassination plot to
create commotion and problems to the
government, so they proposed two options:
she either leaves the country or accepts
guarantees for her security. She chose the
latter, she said.
The lawmaker from Encuentro por Guatemala
did not elaborate on the plot to assassinate
her, but was emphatic when she said that she
would not leave the country.
She took that same stance in 1984, during
the armed conflict in Guatemala, when her
husband was abducted and disappeared. |
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