Guatemala: The controversy against Jimmy Morales is growing
The current Guatemalan president was involved in an alleged case of illicit financing during his presidential campaign in 2015
In recent days, the international community has witnessed a major political clash in Guatemala over the dispute between the president, Jimmy Morales, and the head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG, in Spanish), Iván Velázquez. According to Infobae, Morales banded Velázquez from entering Guatemala, after the National Security Council considered the Colombian lawyer to be "a person who violates public order and security, affecting governance, institutionality, justice, and the peace of the country".
Leer en español: Guatemala: Crece la polémica contra Jimmy Morales
In addition, not only the exclusion of the commissioner was the news of the last week, so was the termination of the agreement that Guatemala had with the entire Commission regulated by the UN. The decision was made "because it considers that it spreads judicial terror, conducts biased and partisan investigations, and violates local and international laws" El Mundo reported.
Legal issues?
However, the political and mediatic controversy of the President with the CICIG is not the only one that has been generated in the Morales government during these days and not the only one with the UN commission.
Last August, the International Delegation and the Guatemalan Prosecutor's Office requested the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ, in Spanish) "the inquiry for a preliminary hearing (lifting of jurisdiction) against Mr. Jimmy Morales Cabrera", according to El Espectador, in a case of corruption during his presidential campaign in 2015.
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"Mr. Jimmy Morales, in his capacity as General Secretary (of the political party Frente de Convergencia Nacional FCN-NACIÓN) did not report to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE, in Spanish) the contribution of resources destined directly to the payment of electoral prosecutors and printing of electoral material ", explained the Public Ministry through its website.
#Guatemala Prosecutor asks for a preliminary hearing and withdrawal of immunity from President Jimmy Morales https://t.co/CjsZ0vF0RS
In the framework of the investigation for the alleged crime of illicit financing, the file must be sent to the Supreme Court and, if applicable, will go to Congress. pic.twitter.com/54RDt6fuDK– teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv) August 11, 2018
Similarly, the state agency specified that the then presidential candidate and his party would have contributed "an approximate amount of 7,560,476 quetzales (more than one million dollars) that served for the payment of public prosecutors and the payment of advertising material, consisting of leaflets and pocket calendars".
Also, according to the investigation of the Prosecutor's Office, the FCN-NACIÓN did not report to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal a private investment of 359,899 quetzales (a little less than 47 thousand dollars) to the campaign of 2015. With the amount, it was paid the "training for the then candidates for president and vice president".
Consequently, on August 23, the CSJ gave the guarantee to continue with the petition against Morales, so now everything is up to the Congress. First, a report will be made, by a delegation chosen at random, in order to know if it is viable or not to continue the process of removal. If it were to continue, 105 votes would be needed from the 158 deputies who are part of the National Congress to make the decision effective, reported El Espectador.
Reactions
"Another attempted coup against President Jimmy Morales" were the words with which the Vice President of Congress, Felipe Alejos, expressed his disagreement with the judicial process against the Guatemalan president.
Another attempted coup to President Jimmy Morales. As in the previous ones, I REJECT the actions to destabilize the country. Of course I reiterate my commitment to avoid that agenda advance in the Congress of the Republic.
– Felipe Alejos (@FelipeAlejos) August 10, 2018
According to the ABC newspaper, Alejos blamed Iván Velázquez and ex-public prosecutor Thelma Aldana for being the promoters of "an excessive and systematized hatred" against Morales. Finally, he made "a call to the Guatemalan people to open their eyes and put a stop to the dishonesty of the leftist groups that want to impose their agenda and take power by assault, beginning by giving a blow to the president."
On the other hand, the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre, in an Editorial, pointed out that the investigations around the image of Morales "have clouded his reasoning".
The publication also accused that "the precariousness with which he had assumed the position has been aggravated, to the extreme of making decisions with authoritarian tinge and high risk". This last one related to the way in which Jimmy Morales has assumed his friction with the CICIG, especially with his leader, Iván Velázquez.
LatinAmerican Post | Christopher Ramírez
Translated from “Guatemala: Crece la polémica contra Jimmy Morales”
