The future of Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales is looking increasingly uncertain. Last week he sparked local and international outrage after declaring Iván Velásquez, the respected head of the United Nations backed Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig) persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country. Morales’ order came two days after Velásquez and Guatemala’s attorney general (AG) Thelma Aldana called for him to be stripped of his immunity from prosecution to be investigated for illegal campaign financing involving his Frente de Convergencia Nacional (FCN-Nación) party. The constitutional court (CC) has since definitively suspended the order, a decision which Morales – who took office in January 2016 after winning the previous year’s election on an anti-corruption pledge – has so far accepted, thereby averting a major institutional crisis. However, it raises major questions as to whether, like his predecessor Otto Pérez Molina (2012-2015), forced to resign prematurely over corruption, Morales will see out his full four-year term [WR-15-36].
During a presentation on 25 August regarding the findings of their investigations into FCN-Nación (of which President Morales had served as secretary general), Aldana and Velásquez announced plans to seek the removal of Morales’ immunity in order that he be investigated. The two officials, who had previously unveiled the findings of investigations into other parties (see box on page two), revealed that FCN-Nación had refused to account for more than Q4.38m (some US$600,000) in campaign financing while Q2.33m of party funds came from anonymous sources.
As well as the question marks over FCN-Nación, Morales has also faced scrutiny in relation to his son and brother, José Manuel Morales and Samuel Morales respectively, who were detained in January in relation to a case uncovered in September 2016 by the AG and Cicig. The case involves suspected corruption at the national property registry office (RGP) which took place under the Pérez Molina administration [WR-17-03]. Along with 23 others, the two went on trial on 30 August.
Two days after Aldana and Velásquez announced plans to investigate the president, Morales – who in 2016 asked the UN to extend Cicig’s mandate, set to expire in 2017, until September 2019 – gave a national address in which he revealed his decision regarding the Cicig chief. He accused Velásquez of overstepping his mandate and exercising “illegitimate, and unconstitutional” pressure on the national legislature by advocating constitutional reforms currently under discussion. (It is worth pointing out that one of Cicig’s declared objectives is to “make recommendations to the state of Guatemala regarding public policies to be adopted”.)
Response
Morales’ announcement regarding Velásquez, who is Cicig’s third director since the entity began its mandate of investigating links between organised crime and clandestine ‘security’ groups within the state apparatus in 2008, prompted outrage from the local and international community alike. As well as the immediate impact on his government (see sidebar), institutions like the influential local private sector lobby Cacif, Human Rights Ombudsman Jordán Rodas, and the state-run Universidad de San Carlos (USAC) released statements in firm support of Velásquez, while the civil society group #JusticiaYa, which staged the mass protests in 2015 that were instrumental in forcing Pérez Molina to step down, announced fresh protests.
The international community also waded in. In a statement issued on 27 August, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antônio Guterres, said that Guterres was “shocked to learn” of Morales’ decision which the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein has since said he was “deeply disturbed by”. The US government, the European Union (EU), and International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) all slammed the order which US-based think-tank Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) described as a “blatant attack on the rule of law in Guatemala and a major setback to the efforts to strengthen justice and security institutions”, warning it could impact on foreign cooperation.
Court ruling
The outrage expressed by the local community was backed up with action: Rodas was among others to file appeals before the CC, arguing that Morales’ order was unconstitutional. After issuing a provisional ruling on 27 August suspending his order, the five-member court announced two days later that it had voted by three to two to cancel it definitively. Among the various arguments given, the CC noted that Morales had acted unilaterally, issuing his order without it being signed by at least one other minister. This is in breach of Art. 182 of the constitution which states, “The president of the republic will always act…with one or more ministers.” In its ruling, the CC also invoked Article 12 of the agreement establishing Cicig which states that any controversy between the UN-backed body and the government must be resolved through negotiation between the two sides.
While so far Morales has said that he will heed the CC’s ruling, the controversy has undoubtedly caused significant damage to his credibility and declared commitment to anti-corruption efforts. Meanwhile, the efforts to heed calls made by Velásquez and Aldana for him to be investigated are likely to subject the country’s institutions to further pressure and public scrutiny.
Other parties under fire
As well as the calls to investigate President Morales, the AG and Cicig also requested that two sitting opposition deputies, Roberto Ricardo Villate Villatoro and Orlando Joaquín Blanco Lapola, be stripped of their immunity from prosecution. This too is in line with the findings of the investigation into illegal electoral financing. Villate belonged to the Libertad Democrática Renovada (Líder), which was officially cancelled in February 2017 for violating electoral legislation, while Blanco is a member of the main opposition Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) of former president Alvaro Colom (2008-2012).
With regard to Líder, which in the 2015 presidential contest fielded its founder, populist businessman Manuel Baldizón, who came third and who has since quit politics, the investigation found the party spent Q83.8m on its electoral campaign. This is well above the limit of Q52.4m set by the TSE. Of this, over Q21.78m was not accounted for.
In relation to UNE, Cicig and the AG flagged up anomalies surrounding services offered to candidates by a local helicopter company, Helicópteros de Guatemala SA, worth Q2.2m. According to Cicig and the AG, the UNE reported as “non-cash contributions” some Q1.65m from two local companies, Bienno SA (textiles) and MAARIV SA (furniture), which were used to pay for air transport – claims which both companies have denied.
- Cabinet changes
President Morales’ efforts to expel the Cicig director have had a direct impact on his government. He sacked his foreign minister Carlos Raúl Morales reportedly for failing to execute the order regarding Velásquez while Health Minister Lucrecia Hernández Mack, four deputy ministers and a commissioner of human development, local competitivity & crucial infrastructure all quit in protest.