Tag: Guatemala

Central America

Guatemala: ex-VP sentenced in water scandal

Guatemala’s special anti-corruption Court for High Risk Crimes sentenced former vice president Roxana Baldetti to prison for 15 years and six months for her role in the so-called "Magic Water" scandal. The case concerned the awarding of an $18 million dollar contract to decontaminate Lake Amatitlán, an important water source for peasant communities. The contract went to Israeli firm M. Tarcic Engineering Ltd, which claimed it had a "special formula" that could clean the lake within months. An investigation revealed that the "formula" consisted of water, salt and chlorine. The Authority for the Sustainable Management of Lake Amatitlán (AMSA), establsihed to oversee the clean-up, documented illegal dumping of agricultural and municipal waste into the Río Villalobos, which empties into the lake. The UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) supported Guatemalan prosecutors in the conspiracy case against Baldetti. (Photo via EmisorasUnidas)

North America

Trump order lays ground for indefinite detention

Trump’s executive order officially calling for an end to separating migrant families on the border actually contains provisions laying the groundwork for the indefinite detention of intercepted migrants. Entitled “Temporary Detention Policy for Families Entering this Country Illegally,” it instructs the Secretary of Defense to provide “any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families” to Homeland Security—a clear reference to placing detained migrants in military bases. It also charges the Defense Department with responsibility to “construct such facilities if necessary…” (Photo: BBC World Service via Flickr)

Central America

Guatemala: ex-officers convicted in disappearance

Four retired senior members of the Guatemalan military—including two high-ranking officers previously thought to be untouchable, former Army Chief of Staff Benedicto Lucas García and former chief of military intelligence Manuel Callejas y Callejas—were convicted of involvement in crimes against humanity. Three  received a sentence of 58 years in prison, while one was sentenced to 33 years. The former officials faced charges arising from the detention, torture and sexual violation of Emma Molina Theissen, and the enforced disappearance of Emma’s 14-year-old brother Marco Antonio, in 1981. (Photo: Waging Nonviolence)

Central America

Guatemala: general strike to demand prez resign

Independence Day celebrations in Guatemala were disrupted by protests across the country, as thousands took to the streets to demand the resignation of President Jimmy Morales. The protests were sparked after the country's Congress voted down a measure to remove Morales' immunity from prosecution and instead approved legislation that decreases the penalties for campaign finance crimes.

Central America

Guatemala: halt expulsion of anti-corruption chief

With protesters paralyzing the capital, the Guatemalan Supreme Court suspended President Jimmy Morales' order to deport the head of a UN anti-corruption commission from the country. The order came two days after Ivan Velásquez, the Colombian prosecutor who leads Guatemala's International Commission against Impunity, announced he was seeking to lift Morales' immunity from prosecution.

Central America

Taiwan sacrificed to Central America geopolitics

Panama is the latest Central American nation to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Bejing—under pressure of China's fast-growing economic presence on the isthmus.

Mexico

Mexico: fugitive narco-governors snared

Javier Duarte, the ex-governor of Mexico's Veracruz state, was detained by Interpol in Guatemala—the latest in a string of fugitive Mexican ex-governors to be arrested abroad.

Central America

Guatemala: Barrio 18 gang in deadly prison siege

Three guards were killed as riot police stormed a juvenile detention center outside Guatemala City, where members of the notorious Barrio 18 narco-gang had staged un uprising.

Central America

Guatemalans march on capital for water rights

Thousands converged on Guatemala City on Earth Day, the culmination of a cross-country march by peasants and popular organizations to demand local rights over access to water.