GUATEMALA
Major Setback in Fight
Against Corruption
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA (IPS) - The resignation
of the head of the International
Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala
(CICIG), Spanish judge Carlos Castresana,
due to a lack of government support will
make the already Herculean task of
fighting corruption and impunity in this
Central American country even more
complex, human rights groups warn.
Castresana handed in his resignation to
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
in New York, who thanked him and asked
him to remain in his post until he found
a replacement.
The U.N.-sponsored CICIG was set up to
restore trust in institutions like the
corruption-riddled police and justice
system in Guatemala.
One of the key tasks of the
ground-breaking initiative, which began
to operate in January 2008, is to assist
the Guatemalan public prosecutors'
office, the Supreme Court and the police
in identifying the existence of illegal,
clandestine armed security groups and
their possible links to the state
apparatus, in order to dismantle them.
Explaining his decision on Monday, the
Spanish jurist said the agreement that
gave rise to CICIG included obligations
not only on the part of the United
Nations and the international community,
but also for the Guatemalan government,
which "it is not living up to."
A statement issued by U.N. Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's office said "The
success of this partnership requires
that the international commitment be
matched by an equal commitment on the
part of the national authorities."
Castresana also urged social democratic
President Álvaro Colom to remove the
recently named attorney general, Conrado
Reyes, who the jurist accused of
securing his new job through deals with
lawyers with ties to drug traffickers.
The Spanish judge also complained about
a smear campaign against him, which he
said was led by figures from the world
of organised crime who feel threatened
by CICIG's work.
His announcement caused a stir because
of the important role played by CICIG in
a country where 98 percent of all
murders go unsolved, and where 6,451
murders were committed, nearly 18 a day,
in 2009. Of these cases, barely 230
convictions have been handed down by the
courts, according to the U.N.-sponsored
Commission, which was created at the
request of the Guatemalan state.
Castresana's departure will further
weaken the justice system, because of
his serious accusations against the
authorities, Eleonora Muralles, an
activist with the Movimiento Pro
Justicia (Pro Justice Movement), a local
non-governmental organisation, told IPS.
"This throws Guatemala into a state of
alarm, of calamity almost, with regard
to the question of justice, because it
once again reveals the state's lack of
will to live up to Castresana's demands
for the passage of laws, support for the
police, etc.," said Muralles.
CICIG, which is to function until Sept.
4, 2011, has been asking the government
for support for the construction of a
maximum security prison and the
professionalisation of the National
Civil Police, and for an increase in the
justice system's budget.
It has also asked the legislature to
approve a law against illicit enrichment
and to reform other laws to make it
possible to try corrupt officials or
former officials.
But these demands have not been met.
Sandino Asturias, director of the
non-governmental Centre for Guatemalan
Studies (CEG), told IPS that
Castresana's resignation "is extremely
serious, because it shows that the
Guatemalan state has failed to live up
to its commitment to fight impunity."
Asturias and a score of other
representatives of human rights groups
met Monday night with President Colom to
ask him to immediately remove the
attorney general and address all of
CICIG's demands.
He said the announcement is a wake-up
call to Guatemalan society, a warning
that "neither Castresana nor God nor any
commission is going to change this
country if Guatemalans ourselves do not
get involved in the process."
CICIG's arrival raised hopes for
profound institutional changes in
Guatemala, as it has overseen the
selection of Supreme Court judges and
played a key role in the January capture
of former president Alfonso Portillo
(2000-2004), who is accused of money
laundering and embezzlement.
It also helped clarify the high-profile
murder of prominent lawyer Rodrigo
Rosenberg, who accused Colom and other
high government officials of his murder
in a video broadcast after his death,
but was later found to have ordered his
own assassination.
Jorge Santos, head of the International
Centre for Human Rights Research (CIIDH),
told IPS that the position taken by the
government and the legislature will be
key to dismantling the clandestine
parallel power structures after
Castresana's departure.
The activist expressed concern that
CICIG's proposals to strengthen the
justice system continue to be pushed to
the backburner, because of "the
enthronement of the criminal groups and
parallel structures that have taken the
Guatemalan state hostage."
Claudia Samayoa, director of the
non-governmental Human Rights Defenders
Protection Unit (UDEFEGUA), told IPS
that the government should show that it
has no "arrangements" with any groups by
immediately sacking the new attorney
general.
In a press conference in which he did
not accept questions from reporters,
Colom said late Monday that Castresana's
resignation "is a call to the conscience
of our security and justice system and
to the three branches of the state to
reflect on and understand the need for a
real strengthening of the system.
"Sometimes we are limited, legally or
with regard to governance or financing,
as to how we can respond to their
requests," he also said, referring to
CICIG's demands.
He also announced that he would ask the
new attorney general to respond to
Castresana's allegations. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
