Guatemala president shuts down U.N. anti-corruption commission

GUATEMALA CITY— Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on Friday shut down a crusading U.N.-sponsored antigraft commission that has pressed a number of high-profile corruption probes—including one pending against the president himself over purported illicit campaign financing.

Speaking in front of civilian and military leaders, Morales said he had informed the U.N. secretary-general of his decision to revoke the body’s mandate and “immediately” begin transferring its capacities to Guatemalan institutions.

Minutes before the surprise announcement, U.S.-donated army vehicles that Guatemala uses to fight drug and other smuggling were deployed to the commission’s headquarters in the capital in what critics called an attempt at intimidation.

The decision caps a long history of friction between the president and the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG for its initials in Spanish.

In August 2017, Morales announced that he was expelling the commission’s chief, Ivan Velasquez, but that move was quickly blocked by Guatemala’s top court.

At the time Morales declared Velasquez a persona non grata and fired his foreign minister for refusing to carry out the order to expel him, before later backing off and saying he would obey the court’s decision.

Morales accused the commission Friday of “violating our laws, inducing people and institutions to participate in acts of corrup- tion and impunity,” and “selective criminal prosecution with an ideological bias.”

“Selective justice has been used to intimidate and terrorize the citizenry,” he charged. “Judicial independence has been violated, with the intention of manipulating justice, actions that attack the presumption of innocence and due process.”

The announcement was promptly met with criticism from human rights officials and advocates.

“We sincerely regret the great mistake that the president made public in not renewing CICIG’s mandate,” Guatemalan human rights prosecutor Jordan Rodas said. “We are grateful for its valuable contribution in the country to the fight against corruption and impunity.”

Morales is suspected of receiving at least $1 million in undeclared contributions during the 2015 campaign. He has denied wrongdoing.

Last week the Supreme Court allowed a request brought by CICIG and Guatemalan prosecutors to strip his immunity from prosecution to go to Congress for consideration. If 105 lawmakers vote in favor, it could open him up to investigation for possible illicit campaign financing.