Baldizon's pending return to Guatemala

Christine Wade and I spoke to Parker Asmann yesterday about what will likely happen when Manuel Baldizon returns to Guatemala. Baldizon recently withdrew his request for asylum in the United States and will be returned to Guatemala where he will face charges related to the Odebrecht bribery scandal. 

“Baldizón seems to have admitted enough wrongdoing publicly to lead one to believe that he might be open to cooperating with Guatemalan authorities about his case in return for a reduced sentence,” Mike Allison, the head of the political science department at the University of Scranton, told InSight Crime in an email.

If Baldizón has “political scores to settle,” his testimony could implicate a number of other business and political elites given the broad scope of the Odebrecht investigation, according to Christine Wade, a Central America expert and political science professor at Washington College.

However, Allison warned that the “greater likelihood is that Baldizón and his lawyers will put up roadblock after roadblock” to prevent a legal case from proceeding against him given the current battle being waged between prosecutors and the country’s elite class, including President Jimmy Morales himself.

See Guatemala Powerbroker Withdraws US Asylum Plea To Face Criminal Charges.