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Weekly Report - 14 September 2017 (WR-17-36)

GUATEMALA: Congress deals double blow to transparency efforts

Hopes that the resignation of former president Otto Pérez Molina (2012-2015) over corruption would herald a new era in Guatemalan politics have well and truly been buried. This week the legislature voted not to strip President Jimmy Morales of his immunity from prosecution to face investigation over irregular campaign finance involving his Frente de Convergencia Nacional (FCN-Nación) party. Two days later, on 13 September, legislators - some of whom are themselves facing the threat of investigation for similar reasons - approved changes to the criminal code which would exonerate political parties’ general secretaries of all criminal responsibility for allowing illegal electoral funds. Both moves have caused outrage among local sectors and prompted a response from the US, raising questions as to whether the country will again witness the unprecedented mass anti-corruption protests, organised by the civil-society group #JusticiaYa, which led Pérez Molina to step down in 2015.

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