”Nothing has really changed” in Guatemala

Kelsey Alford-Jones (executive director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA), Arturo Matute (Guatemala analyst at the International Crisis Group), and I answer some questions about Guatemala for the Inter-American Dialogue's Latin America Advisor.

”Nothing has really changed” in Guatemala, former President Otto Pérez Molina, who resigned in September and was jailed amid a corruption scandal, told Anita Isaacs, the Haverford College professor wrote in a Nov. 5 New York Times op-ed. Few political reforms are under debate in Guatemala’s Congress, and advisors of President-elect Jimmy Morales are suspected of having ties to organized crime and political violence, Isaacs wrote.

Will Morales make inroads into fighting graft, or should Guatemalans expect more of the same? What is the likelihood that anti-corruption reforms will pass Congress and be effective? What are the biggest obstacles to fighting corruption in Guatemala, and can they be overcome? Will CICIG continue to play an important role in shaping Guatemala’s next chapter in fighting corruption?

I think most of us would disagree with the statement that "Nothing has really changed." The reforms might not go as far as the Guatemalan people need and there is a good chance that some will be reversed. However, there's really no going back to the way that things used to be in Guatemala.

See here for our answers.