+ A
A -
New York Times
LAST year, Guatemalans watched in awe as their president, Otto P`rez Molina, and his vice president, Roxana Baldetti, were charged in a kickback scheme and forced from power. This month brought a startling revelation from the country's attorney-general, Thelma Aldana: Investigators have determined that the case that brought down P`rez Molina was just a sliver of a sprawling criminal enterprise run by the state.
Aldana said that at least 70 people in the country's political and business elites have been implicated in money-laundering and bribery schemes that bankrolled P`rez Molina's party and his cronies. Investigators are poring through more than 2 million seized documents as they continue to map out what Aldana described as a state that had been"co-opted" by crooks.
"For many years corruption was tolerated, which led to impunity," Aldana said in an interview."That allowed these criminal structures to strengthen."
Guatemala, a small, impoverished nation, is setting a commendable example by confronting institutionalised corruption in a region where it is widespread.
The remarkable evolution of Guatemala's criminal justice system began a decade ago when the United Nations established the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, a team of foreign experts who provide technical expertise and political cover to local authorities pursuing complex, high-profile investigations.
The second such experiment in the region began this year in neighboring Honduras. The Organisation of American States, a Washington-based diplomatic body, created the Support Mission Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras. The United States recently committed to giving $5.2 million to the effort. While the backing of international experts has proved to be transformational, dismantling a culture of impunity will ultimately require empowered civil society organisations and political will.
President Jimmy Morales, a comedian who was elected last year after campaigning on a promise that he was"not corrupt, not a crook," has signalled publicly that his administration is determined to put an end to the nation's graft and cronyism. President Juan Orlando Hern'e1ndez of Honduras has shown less enthusiasm for meaningful reforms and has accepted the OAS mission under strong international pressure.
Millions of Central Americans have emigrated in recent decades after losing hope in governing elites that enrich themselves while millions lack decent health care and education and live under constant threat of violence. Scores continue to head to the United States each week.
