Weekly Report - 13 September 2012 (WR-12-36)

The US embassy recently hailed “progress by the three branches of the Guatemalan government in the battle against impunity”. The praise was prompted by a constitutional court (CC) ruling rejecting an appeal by former president Alfonso Portillo (2000-2004) against extradition to the US to face charges of laundering US$70m. It follows the arrest in Switzerland of Erwin Sperisen, a former police chief, in relation to extrajudicial executions – another high-profile case. Yet while both signify steps forward in the country’s well-publicised fight against impunity, the legislature’s failure to approve an anti-corruption law, recently reintroduced into the plenary, illustrates the challenges in redressing the political culture of corruption.

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