Guatemala

El increíble caso que demostró que la ofensiva de América Latina contra la corrupción va en serio

Read in English ¿Guatemala? ¿De verdad? Confieso: esa fue mi reacción en el momento en que Guatemala fue más lejos que cualquier otro país en la campaña contra la corrupción que ahora se propaga en América Latina. Una cosa es que Brasil o Chile, que tienen una historia más larga de instituciones fuertes, investiguen a … Read more

AQ Top 5 Corruption Busters: Thelma Aldana

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The quiet voice behind Guatemala’s mega-corruption case.

AQ Top 5 Corruption Busters: Iván Velásquez

This article is adapted from our 1st print issue of 2016. For an overview of our Top 5 Corruption Busters, click here. Visiting Iván Velásquez’s office is like entering an armed fortress. And no wonder. Even before leading the investigation that caused the resignation and imprisonment of a sitting Guatemalan president, Velásquez was a man … Read more

From Guatemala to Peru, Protests Sweep Across Latin America

In his 1982 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez spoke of the conflict and violence plaguing Latin America, including El Salvador’s 12 year civil war and Argentina’s Dirty War. “There have been five wars and seventeen military coups; there emerged a diabolic dictator who is carrying out, in God’s name, the first Latin American ethnocide … Read more

Corruption Network in Guatemalan Health System Exposed

Guatemalan authorities arrested 17 people, including the head of the Guatemalan Central bank, on Wednesday in an ongoing investigation into fraud at the Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social (IGSS—Guatemalan Institute of Social Security) that resulted in the deaths of at least five kidney failure patients. In December 2014, IGSS changed its supplier of kidney dialysis … Read more

Additional Guatemalan Officials Resign Amid Allegations of Corruption

Guatemala’s Ministers of Interior, Energy and Mining, Environment, and the Secretary of Intelligence resigned on Thursday, amid a series of corruption scandals. The resignations come two weeks after Vice President Roxana Baldetti was forced to step down due to a top aide’s involvement in customs fraud. Despite the resignations, President Otto Pérez Molina refuted claims … Read more

Veteran Judge Sworn in as Guatemala’s New Vice President

Judge Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre was sworn in as Guatemala’s new vice president on May 15 after his predecessor, Roxana Baldetti, was forced to step down in the wake of a major corruption scandal. Maldonado Aguirre was not originally included in the shortlist of candidates that President Otto Pérez Molina sent to Congress. The original list … Read more

Guatemalan Customs Fraud Scandal Taints Lawyers, Judges

On May 8, Guatemalan authorities arrested three lawyers representing defendants in a massive customs tax fraud case known as Caso SAT that has thrown the current administration into a state of disarray and forced Vice President Roxana Baldetti to resign. The UN Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala—CICIG), … Read more

Baldetti’s Resignation Deepens Guatemalan Political Crisis

Guatemalan Vice President Roxana Baldetti resigned last Friday, ending a tumultuous three weeks of protests after an investigation raised questions about her possible involvement in a high-profile corruption scandal known as Caso SAT. Baldetti’s former private secretary, Juan Carlos Monzón, was recently accused of organizing a corruption network targeting Guatemala´s tax collection agency—the Superintendencia de … Read more

Monday Memo: Castro visits Pope—Chilean Cabinet—Colombian Coca—Guatemalan Corruption—Central American Geothermal

This week’s likely news stories: Raúl Castro has an audience with the Pope; Michelle Bachelet shakes up her Cabinet; Colombia bans coca spraying; a Guatemalan judge is linked to a corruption scandal; Germany will invest in Central American geothermal projects. Cuban President Meets with the Pope: Cuban President Raúl Castro met with Pope Francis this … Read more

Business Innovator: Jose Kont

Every entrepreneur aims to reinvent the world, but José Contreras went one step further by reinventing his identity. The 28-year-old Guatemalan, who has brought a social media marketing technique called “neuromarketing” to companies in Central America, not only established a new firm called iLifebelt to promote it; he gave himself a new name. Under the … Read more

Customs Fraud Sparks Guatemalan Protests

Tens of thousands of Guatemalans protested last Saturday, calling for the resignation of Vice President Roxana Baldetti for her alleged role in Caso SAT, a scandal involving the defrauding of hundreds of millions of quetzales from the Guatemalan government. On April 16, Guatemalan authorities arrested 22 people in the culmination of an eight month investigation … Read more

Monday Memo: U.S.-Colombia Talks—Guatemala Protests—Buenos Aires Primaries—Puerto Rico Downgrade—Texas Delegation in Cuba

This week’s likely top stories: U.S.-Colombia Fifth Annual Bilateral Meeting; Protesters denounce corruption in Guatemala; Primaries for local elections held in Buenos Aires; S&P downgrades Puerto Rico; and Texas trade delegation visits Havana. High-level Colombia-U.S. Talks on Mutual Cooperation: The U.S. and Colombia will hold high-level bilateral talks today in Bogotá, Colombia at the office … Read more