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Caribbean & Central America - June 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)

GUATEMALA: Pressure grows on Pérez Molina as another massive scandal emerges

Whether Guatemala’s President Otto Pérez Molina will serve out the rest of his four-year term ending in January 2016 is fast becoming a topic of speculation. Just over a month after a corruption ring known as ‘La Línea’ was discovered at the tax authority (SAT) by the United Nations (UN)-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig) and attorney general’s office (AG), which forced out Vice-President Roxana Baldetti [RC-15-05]; another serious corruption case has been uncovered at the social security institute (IGSS). The problem for Pérez Molina is that the (now former) IGSS head, Juan de Dios de la Cruz Rodríguez López – one of 17 officials arrested - is one of Pérez Molina’s closest allies and his former private secretary. Other top Pérez Molina aides have also resigned over alleged corruption – including the secretary general of the presidency, Gustavo Martínez, and the interior minister, Mauricio López Bonilla – serving to illustrate the extent of the crisis facing the Partido Patriota (PP) government.

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