Caribbean & Central America - June 2016 (ISSN 1741-4458)

President Jimmy Morales last month sanctioned reforms to the electoral law and law on political parties (LEPP) following the initiative’s approval in April by the 158-member unicameral national legislature. President Morales, whose October 2015 electoral victory was largely due to his anti-corruption platform and perceived distance from a political establishment badly discredited as a result of various scandals, is pointing to other developments as evidence that he is making good his electoral pledge. The need for these efforts remains apparent as further evidence of official corruption comes to light – most significantly a new campaign finance scandal involving disgraced former President Otto Pérez Molina (Partido Patriota [PP], 2012-2015), who was forced to quit last year over corruption.

Aimed at cracking down on political corruption, the LEPP reforms took effect on 1 June and will be applied ahead of the 2019 general elections. They include: allowing ex-pats abroad to vote in the presidential election; strengthening transparency of political party financing; strengthening sanctions for the violation of electoral rules; regulating electoral surveys; and prohibiting officials from campaigning during official events, among other things. However, the new legislation left out key civil-society demands like increasing the budget for the supreme electoral court (TSE); limiting the re-election of legislators; introducing quotas for political representation of women, indigenous and young people; and modernising the electoral register.

The new law has received a mixed response. While hailed as a step forward of sorts by civil-society groups and think tanks like the Institute for National Problems (IPNUSAC) at the state Universidad San Carlos and Asociación de Investigación y Estudios Sociales (ASIES), high profile activists like Helen Mack, of the Myrna Mack foundation, dismissed it as a ‘joke’ given the omission of these civil-society demands. Antonio Malouf, the vice president of the private sector lobby, Comité Coordinador de Asociaciones Agrícolas, Comerciales, Industriales y Financieras (CACIF), acknowledged that the initiative could be improved, while President Morales himself has said that dialogue with different sectors will continue regarding those demands omitted in the new law.

Also trumpeted as evidence of anti-corruption moves, a new national dialogue initiative to promote judicial reform was launched on 25 April by the heads of the three branches of government – Morales; supreme justice court (CSJ) president, Ranulfo Rafael Rojas; and congress president, Mario Taracena of the opposition Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE). The initiative, which President Morales claims is an unprecedented sign of coordination between the three branches of government, will count on the technical assistance of the Attorney General’s office (AG); the United Nations (UN)-backed anti-impunity commission in Guatemala (Cicig); the human rights ombudsman, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Guatemala among other organisations.

According to a government website launched to accompany the judicial reform initiative, regional working groups were set up in April in the departments of Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, Alta Verapaz, Zacapa, Petén, Jutiapa, and Sacatepéquez and in Guatemala City. Citizens will be able to participate in these working groups and will also have the opportunity to submit proposals through an online platform. The results of these workshops will then serve as the basis for the three branches of government to come up with a final proposal for constitutional reform that will be submitted to the legislature in August 2016.

A “macro-criminal structure”

In what was the latest example of the endemic corruption afflicting state institutions, on 2 June, the heads of the AG, Cicig and Interior Ministry – Thelma Aldana, Ivan Velásquez and Francisco Rivas Lara respectively – revealed the findings of an investigation into a “macro-criminal structure that had co-opted power”, allegedly headed up by Pérez Molina and his vice president Roxana Baldetti (2012-2015), who was also forced to quit last year over corruption. The two now face fresh accusations of illicit association, passive bribery, illegal association, money laundering, and other acts of illicit enrichment. Meanwhile, 25 individuals have been arrested with seven international arrest orders issued and a further 14 individuals under investigation.

The investigation into the case of illegal campaign finance is looking at 50 cases of illicit contracts involving bankers, officials, and business representatives as well as individuals who served as front men to hide the source of funds – amounting to “at least Q$500m (US$65m)”. The scandal once again highlights the need to strengthen transparency with regard to campaign financing – an issue highlighted in a July 2015 report by Cicig which found that, on data submitted by the electoral authorities (TE), in the 2011 general elections, over Q$300m (US$39m) of campaign financing was unaccounted for. Specifically, the Cicig report found that the PP exceeded the legal campaign spending limit by Q$101m (US$13m); the Libertad Democrática Renovada (Líder) by Q$68m (US$9m) and UNE – whose presidential candidate, former First Lady Sandra Torres, Morales defeated in the run-off – by Q$56m (US$7m).

These are the third set of allegations to be made against Pérez Molina after a case revealed in April 2016 involving the awarding of a 25-year contract to the local branch of Spanish company, Terminal de Contenedores Barcelona (TCB), to operate the container terminal at Puerto Quetzal (TCQ) in Escuintla department. According to Cicig and the AG, Pérez Molina and other senior government officials were paid some US$25m in bribes in 2013-2015 in exchange for the awarding of the contract. In the wake of the investigation, the Morales government has said that it will cancel the TCQ contract.

More signs of institutional problems

While President Morales may point to these various developments as signs of progress with regards to cracking down on impunity, challenges to these efforts persist. On 17 May, Guatemala’s prosecutor general, María Eugenia Villagrán, resigned after claiming to have received death threats linked to various corruption cases uncovered by the AG and Cicig currently under investigation – in particular the TCQ case.

Villagrán told local radio station Radio Sonora that she made the decision, which has been widely criticised by local civil-society organisations (see sidebar) and would now be forced to seek exile “because I received threats, not directly…but through my close advisors”.

She had been named to the post in December 2014 by Pérez Molina to replace Vladimir Aguilar (2013-2014), who stepped down in order to become a CSJ magistrate – a position which he was forced to relinquish on 13 May in order to face investigation for alleged influence trafficking in regard to the TCQ case. Also, last month another CSJ judge, Douglas René Charchal Ramos, was stripped of his immunity in order to face investigation for the same case.

On 30 May, President Morales named Anabella Morfín as Villagrán’s successor – a post she formally took up on 3 June. Morfín’s appointment has largely been well-received; she is perceived to be independent while in the presidential statement announcing her nomination, Morales claimed that she had Cicig’s endorsement. A lawyer by profession, Morfín has served as secretary general of the national agrarian institute (Inta) and the national agrarian transformation council (1979-1985) as well as administrative secretary of the constitutional court (CC) in 1986. A former labour minister under the government led by former president Ramiro de León Carpio (1993-1996), in 1992 she founded the centre for the defence of the constitution (Cedecon), a civil-society organisation.

• AG progress sheet

On 17 May, Guatemala’s attorney general (AG), Thelma Aldana, presented the AG’s balance sheet for May 2015-May 2016. She pointed to various signs of progress including the fact that 65 criminal structures had been dismantled, 4,736 searches had been carried out, and 12,399 arrest warrants issued. Aldana also told reporters that Q$5.5m (US$720,000) had been seized in relation to contraband and Q$6.86m was recovered from tax fraud. In addition, 10,860kgs of drugs were seized and US$4.2m was seized in drug trafficking-related activity.

• Civil-society concerns

The resignation of María Eugenia Villagrán was received with concern by local human rights activists like Manfredo Marroquín, of local NGO Acción Ciudadana (AC) who told reporters that while Villagrán’s resignation in itself would not affect existing investigations, it nevertheless sent a worrying signal “that the state continues fragmenting…she is a lawyer for the state …[and] should not have to resign for situations like these”.