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

Last month Guatemala’s 13-member supreme court (CSJ) unanimously voted to allow the national 158-member unicameral congress to decide whether to strip President Otto Pérez Molina of his immunity from prosecution to be investigated in relation to the two massive corruption scandals that have shaken his Partido Patriota (PP) government [RC-15-06] – one involving the tax authority (SAT) and the other, the social security institute (IGSS). If approved by congress, the move would be unprecedented since Guatemala’s return to democracy in 1986, serving as a further source of uncertainty ahead of 6 September general elections.

The CSJ issued its ruling on 10 June after admitting a legal complaint filed on 22 May by Amílcar de Jesús Pop, a national deputy for the small leftist opposition Winaq party. As per the country’s 1985 constitution, a two-thirds majority (105 votes) would be necessary to strip Pérez Molina of his immunity. The ruling PP has just 34 seats on the latest figures from congress (following various defections since the scandals broke) while the main opposition Libertad Democrática Renovada (Líder), the party of the current presidential frontrunner (see sidebar), populist businessman Manuel Baldizón, has 56. Following the CSJ’s ruling, a five-member congressional investigative committee was set up (comprising three deputies from Líder, one from Compromiso, Renovación y Orden (Creo) and one from the PP), tasked with drafting a report on whether to strip President Pérez Molina of his immunity. After some stops and starts due to controversial decisions by the constitutional court (CC) (see box) on 3 July the commission voted by four to one to recommend that Pérez Molina be stripped of his immunity – a recommendation which now goes to congress’s full plenary for voting.

CC back under scrutiny

The process of seeking to determine whether to launch an investigation into President Pérez Molina has reignited concerns regarding the CC, which already came under fire last year for dubious decisions such as its endorsement of elections to pick top justices in a process that was routinely slammed by local and international human rights groups alike [RC-14-11].

In a decision lambasted by prominent civil society leaders like Helen Mack of the NGO Fundación Myrna Mack, on 18 June the CC voted by three to two to provisionally admit an appeal by local lawyer Karen Fischer, a friend of Pérez Molina, against the CSJ’s ruling, citing procedural errors. However on 30 June, the CC voted, again by three to two, to reject another appeal presented by the President himself on 26 June and the following day the CC rejected Fischer’s appeal. The CC’s change of heart was attributed to the change in composition of the court after Justice María de los Angeles Araujo excused herself for “an emergency” and was replaced by Justice Juan Carlos Medina Salas, who voted against the appeals favouring President Pérez Molina. In a rare 25 June statement to reporters, CC President Gloria Porras – who voted against Pérez Molina – hinted at the political pressures at play, criticising the CC’s initial decision and accusing the court of “deciding politically an issue which should be resolved legally”.

• More corruption

In the latest sign of the seemingly endemic corruption afflicting Guatemala’s institutions, on 17 June the United Nations (UN)-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig) and the local attorney general (AG)’s office – which had uncovered the IGSS and SAT scandals – announced an investigation into Baudillo Hichos López, the (now former) president of the congressional investigative commission, for alleged fraud, illicit association and influence trafficking related to a contract for the leasing of an IGSS building in Chiquimula department.

Eight days later, Cicig and the AG called for legal action against Pedro Muadi, a national deputy and former congress president (2013-2014), for alleged embezzlement and illicit association. According to Cicig and the AG as a result of the difference in salaries claimed by and paid out to 15 security guards, Muadi – who was elected for the PP but recently switched to Creo (which has now expelled him) – pocketed some Q$630,000 (US$82,000) worth of congressional funds via his security company, Productos Servicios y Equipos, S.A.

• Latest poll

The latest Borge y Asociados pre-electoral poll, published in local media on 5 June, put Manuel Baldizón (Libertad Democrática Renovada) on 34% of voting intentions, down from 41% in February; while former First Lady Sandra Torres (Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza) was second with 12.9%, slightly up from 12.2% in February. The big surprise was the surge into third place, with 10.4%, of Jimmy Morales, the candidate and secretary general of the small conservative Frente de Convergencia Nacional (FCN-Nación) party. Morales had previously failed to register in the pre-electoral polls. A well-known local TV actor and comedian, Morales entered politics in 2011, running for mayor of the municipality of Mixco, Guatemala department, for the (now defunct) right-wing Acción de Desarrollo Nacional (ADN); he came third.