Eyes on Guatemala
The president has requested $1 billion for Central American aid; they need much more.
These are interesting times in Guatemala where the findings of a U.N.-backed panel investigating corruption have forced the resignations of the country’s president and vice-president, helped touch off months of public protests for change and contributed to a civic mood in which a comic actor with no political experience led the field in Sunday’s election for a new president.
Comic Jimmy Morales is said to be the favorite to win a run-off vote next month against an opponent that, because of the closeness of the vote, is still being determined. Morales, 46, emphasized his humble roots and pledged to lead an open, honest government in a campaign where his slogan was “not corrupt, not a thief.”
The election results represented a rejection of politics as usual in the country of 15 million people beset by gangs, one of the world’s highest murder rates, severe poverty, sexual violence and, of course, corruption.
President Otto Perez Molina resigned two weeks ago and is jailed awaiting trial for his alleged involvement in a customs scandal that earlier had forced Vice President Roxana Baldetti and other officials to resign.
The U.N.-backed panel of international prosecutors known as the Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, or its Spanish acronym CICIG, uncovered a scheme in which importers would call a secret hotline to arrange payment of bribes instead of more costly customs duties. The bribes went to government officials.
According to Reuters news agency, the U.S. played a key role by urging a reluctant Perez to renew CICIG’s mandate when it was set to expire last spring and to oust corrupt officials from his administration. The U.S. used the promise of financial aid to convince him, the report said.
The hope now is that Guatemala cleans up corruption and elects new leaders who want to improve the country, not their personal finances. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but the task will be easier with the presence of CICIG, which was created in late 2006 to investigate crime by illegal armed groups, has uncovered much governmental corruption and survived despite opposition in Guatemala’s ruling class.
It has been suggested that similar commissions be created for Honduras and El Salvador, which share the same problems of violence, poverty and corruption. We would encourage the Obama administration to do with them what it did with Guatemala — link aid to the creation of a U.N.-backed graft commission.
Obama has requested $1 billion next year for Central American aid under his new Alliance for Prosperity program to help regional development and thereby reduce undocumented immigration. The initiative was created after thousands of young Central Americans flooded the U.S. border last year.
The Republican-dominated U.S. Congress has thus far approved far less than Obama’s request, but given the GOP’s concerns about undocumented immigrants and in light of the turn of events in Guatemala, they should consider a significant funding increase. From what we’ve seen in Guatemala, they could bring real change to countries desperately in need of it.