Pres and VP did not realize how much Guatemala had changed
A rather interesting few days in Guatemala. Formed Vice President Roxana Baldetti was arrested for her involvement in the La Linea corruption scandal. Given that she has been referred to as Number 2, it only made sense that attention would then turn to person Number 1 at the top of the pyramid and that person is no one other than President Otto Perez Molina. As we've all known for months, we all knew how this was going to end. Not all of it of course. But we knew strongly suspected that the President was behind the scandal. He is not an incompetent man and it would really have taken an incompetent man to be so oblivious to this corruption scandal emanating out of the Vice President's office.
I felt for months that the VP and the President would not survive their terms in office. Baldetti resigned but Perez doesn't seem the resigning type. While I held open the possibility that Perez might resign as a result of the incriminating evidence presented by the MP's office and CICIG, the pressure from civil society, the media, and now various business lobbies, the more likely outcome was that Congress would seek his removal from office via impeachment. However, that is made complicated by the alliance that Perez' PP and Baldizon's Lider parties have developed over the years. They are competitors but they also concerned with defending themselves against criminal investigations and prosecutions.
Steven Dudley looks at 5 Reasons Why Guatemala is in Upheaval Now for Insight Crime. It's good. If you've been following Guatemalan politics on my blog or on Insight Crime for the last few years, you've probably heard most of it before. Oddly enough, the only point I would disagree with it number 1. I don't know if too greedy is the way that I would view Baldetti and Perez Molina. CICIG itself was created to investigate and prosecute not just people like Perez Molina, but Perez Molina himself. Perez Molina has long been associated with hidden powers in Guatemala. I can't imagine how awkward it has been for CICIG to operate in a country with a president elected in 20111 that they were established to take down. There are many reasons that some have perceived CICIG's progress to have been limited or too slow in coming, but that has got to be one of them.
Anyway, I'm not convinced that Perez Molina and Baldetti were too greedy. They simply failed to realize how much the country's criminal justice system had improved, citizen frustration had grown, and international conditions had changed. The corruption became a bit more sophisticated but they were doing what they had always done.
I felt for months that the VP and the President would not survive their terms in office. Baldetti resigned but Perez doesn't seem the resigning type. While I held open the possibility that Perez might resign as a result of the incriminating evidence presented by the MP's office and CICIG, the pressure from civil society, the media, and now various business lobbies, the more likely outcome was that Congress would seek his removal from office via impeachment. However, that is made complicated by the alliance that Perez' PP and Baldizon's Lider parties have developed over the years. They are competitors but they also concerned with defending themselves against criminal investigations and prosecutions.
Steven Dudley looks at 5 Reasons Why Guatemala is in Upheaval Now for Insight Crime. It's good. If you've been following Guatemalan politics on my blog or on Insight Crime for the last few years, you've probably heard most of it before. Oddly enough, the only point I would disagree with it number 1. I don't know if too greedy is the way that I would view Baldetti and Perez Molina. CICIG itself was created to investigate and prosecute not just people like Perez Molina, but Perez Molina himself. Perez Molina has long been associated with hidden powers in Guatemala. I can't imagine how awkward it has been for CICIG to operate in a country with a president elected in 20111 that they were established to take down. There are many reasons that some have perceived CICIG's progress to have been limited or too slow in coming, but that has got to be one of them.
Anyway, I'm not convinced that Perez Molina and Baldetti were too greedy. They simply failed to realize how much the country's criminal justice system had improved, citizen frustration had grown, and international conditions had changed. The corruption became a bit more sophisticated but they were doing what they had always done.
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