New York Times Editorial Board returns to Central America
The New York Times' Editorial Board returns to Central America this weekend with A Corruption Crusade in Guatemala. It's fine. Just feels like something is missing.
Under pressure (Guatemala's CICIG was adopted under pressure too), Honduras has accepted a watered-down version of CICIG with MACCIH. I'm surprised they didn't add a sentence or two about El Salvador's refusal to work with a CICIES since we have three anti-corruption models at work simultaneously. I am willing to have a bit more patience with El Salvador's new attorney general but I'm not sure if I am in the minority.
CICIG and the MP's office had some difficulties pursuing crimes of the recent past in Guatemala, including corruption charges against former president Alfonso Portillo and members of the Berger administration allegedly involved in extrajudicial executions. There is a good chance that the difficulties that they encountered pursuing those "old" cases led them to focus on more recent criminal scandals. While not entirely true, they skipped over the Colom administration and went right to the Perez Molina administration which they were investigating in real time.
If that lesson is applied in Honduras and El Salvador, those serving in the Hernandez and Sanchez Ceren administrations and the current legislatures should be the targets of future corruption announcements. For whatever reason, we saw how difficult it was for the corruption investigation into the late Francisco Flores to make it through the courts, let alone the case against the military officials involved in the murders of the Jesuits. This mayor's arrest and those involved in the truce fit such a pattern. Unfortunately that means it might be difficult to pursue successful investigations into those who served in previous ARENA administrations.
Yesterday was another big day in Guatemala with the arrests of former interior minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla and former defense ministers Manuel Lopez Ambrosio and Ulises Anzuelos; each served in the Perez Molina organized crime family. Among other charges, they are accused of using public funds (~$4.3 million) to buy former president Don Otto birthday gifts - a helicopter, houses, boats. Former Energy Minister Erick Archila and former Communications Minister Alejandro Sinibaldi have international arrest warrants out for them.
It's going to take awhile to know whether Guatemala has actually turned a corner against organized crime and corruption but I like to see the glass as half full. That is ten years after CICIG's arrival. Honduras and El Salvador don't have that long.
While the backing of international experts has proved to be transformational, dismantling a culture of impunity will ultimately require empowered civil society organizations and political will.
President Jimmy Morales, a comedian who was elected last year after campaigning on a promise that he was “not corrupt, not a crook,” has signaled publicly that his administration is determined to put an end to the nation’s graft and cronyism. President Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras has shown less enthusiasm for meaningful reforms and has accepted the O.A.S. mission under strong international pressure.
Millions of Central Americans have emigrated in recent decades after losing hope in governing elites that enrich themselves while millions lack decent health care and education and live under constant threat of violence. Scores continue to head to the United States each week.
Rooting out the type of graft that has become business as usual in much of the region is vital to attracting foreign investment, creating more equitable prosperity and restoring the trust of citizens in their governments.Ten years of work by CICIG and the MP's office is finally bearing fruit in Guatemala. The international community and civil society are working in tandem to clean up the country in a way that will benefit the majority of people in that country and in the US where officials hope that cracking down on corruption and impunity will reduce the pressures the migration.
Under pressure (Guatemala's CICIG was adopted under pressure too), Honduras has accepted a watered-down version of CICIG with MACCIH. I'm surprised they didn't add a sentence or two about El Salvador's refusal to work with a CICIES since we have three anti-corruption models at work simultaneously. I am willing to have a bit more patience with El Salvador's new attorney general but I'm not sure if I am in the minority.
Claro, ven como en Guate MP y CICIG abren 9 casos contra ex ministro de seguridad y dicen que algo parecido en ES serÃa invasión imperial.— Hector Silva Avalos (@HsilvAvalos) June 11, 2016
@CentAmPolMike He must lead well carried investigations aimed at the highest levels of corruption rings. I don't see that yet.— Hector Silva Avalos (@HsilvAvalos) June 11, 2016
CICIG and the MP's office had some difficulties pursuing crimes of the recent past in Guatemala, including corruption charges against former president Alfonso Portillo and members of the Berger administration allegedly involved in extrajudicial executions. There is a good chance that the difficulties that they encountered pursuing those "old" cases led them to focus on more recent criminal scandals. While not entirely true, they skipped over the Colom administration and went right to the Perez Molina administration which they were investigating in real time.
If that lesson is applied in Honduras and El Salvador, those serving in the Hernandez and Sanchez Ceren administrations and the current legislatures should be the targets of future corruption announcements. For whatever reason, we saw how difficult it was for the corruption investigation into the late Francisco Flores to make it through the courts, let alone the case against the military officials involved in the murders of the Jesuits. This mayor's arrest and those involved in the truce fit such a pattern. Unfortunately that means it might be difficult to pursue successful investigations into those who served in previous ARENA administrations.
Yesterday was another big day in Guatemala with the arrests of former interior minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla and former defense ministers Manuel Lopez Ambrosio and Ulises Anzuelos; each served in the Perez Molina organized crime family. Among other charges, they are accused of using public funds (~$4.3 million) to buy former president Don Otto birthday gifts - a helicopter, houses, boats. Former Energy Minister Erick Archila and former Communications Minister Alejandro Sinibaldi have international arrest warrants out for them.
It's going to take awhile to know whether Guatemala has actually turned a corner against organized crime and corruption but I like to see the glass as half full. That is ten years after CICIG's arrival. Honduras and El Salvador don't have that long.
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