Guatemala's Human Rights Profile

Human Rights Watch put out a pretty accurate report on the human rights situation in Guatemala several days ago.

Guatemala’s weak and corrupt law enforcement institutions have proved incapable of containing the powerful organized crime groups and criminal gangs that contribute to one of the highest violent crime rates in the Americas. Illegal armed groups are believed to be responsible for ongoing threats and targeted attacks against civil society actors and justice officials.

Although impunity remains the norm for human rights violations, there were significant advances for accountability in 2011, including convictions of four former officers for a notorious massacre in 1982 and the first arrest of a top-ranking official for human rights violations.  

I see the situation in Guatemala as still very difficult but having come off its lows in 2008 and 2009. Arrests of high profile drug traffickers have increased. There have been some prosecutions and/or arrests of human rights violators from the civil war years. Murders of both men and women have declined two years in a row.

Guatemala has gone from a murder rate of 46 per 100,000 to 39 per 100,000 at at time when the rates of its neighbors are in the 70s (El Salvador) and 80s (Honduras). When CICIG first arrived in Guatemala, there were reports that 2% of all murders resulted in convictions. Today, it's between 5% (2010) and 9% (2011).

There's still too much violence and too much impunity, but statistically the country is heading in a better direction than its neighbors.

Guatemala fails to extend CICIG mandate

A Guatemalan attorney has filed a criminal complaint against President Alvaro Colom for failing to extend the mandate of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Colom didn't send the bill to congress and no one seems to have realized it until recently.

According to Gallindo's complain, President Colom didn't send the bill to congress because he doesn't want the CICIG to investigate his administration for corruption. His actions, or lack thereof, constitute a violation of the Constitution, abuse of authority and dereliction of duty. (Siglo XXI, Emisoras Unidas)

I'm sure that there's more to come, but as I said earlier, if the Colom administration was as corrupt as previous administrations with the international community looking over its shoulders, CICIG should not have its mandate extended.

Retreat from Justice in Guatemala

Guatemalan officials backtracked Thursday on plans to extradite the country's former interior minister from Spain, saying justice would be better served if he is tried in Spain.

Former Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann faces 10 murder charges stemming from incidents at two prisons in Guatemala. A Spanish court approved his extradition in May.

But on Thursday, Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz told CNN that the country planned to end its extradition request because of "a lack of guarantees in the process." (CNN)

CICIG even supported the Guatemalan government's decision. I don't know.

Portillo was found not guilty. Giammattei was released because they did not have enough evidence to try him.  And now the government and CICIG have thrown in the towel with regards to Vielmann.

On the one hand, it's a wise decision. It just didn't look like they were going to secure a conviction given recent court decisions in Guatemala. If the choice is between justice in Spain and no justice in Guatemala, I understand where they are coming from. But don't tell me that justice would be better served if he is tried in Spain. Justice is best served in the country where he committed his alleged crimes.

However, I wonder how much of this decision was also driven by the strong possibility that Otto Perez Molina will be the next president of Guatemala. There's just too much uncertainty surrounding his administration's approach to prosecuting human rights violators and former officials implicated in shadowy activities. 

Impropriety in Portillo case?

On Wednesday, Prensa Libre began running stories about a connection between Judge Patricia Veras and Alfonso Portillo. The photo above shows Veras' husband,Ronald Otto Valvert Mejia, and Telesforo Guerra, one of Portillo's lawyers in the elevator together.

When confronted, Veras first said that there was no relationship between her husband and Guerra. Minutes later, however, she corrected herself and said that they only had a "professional" relationship. Guerra

Valvert has said that he has a friendship with Guerra, but not an close one. Valvert also said that he and Guerra had never worked on a case together. Guerra contradicted him, however, when he said that they had indeed worked on a case together. It also turns out the Valvert was Guerra's student some thirty years ago in college.

Here's the video showing Guerra and Valvert together at the Public Ministry's office.


On the one hand, Veras should have made the connection between her husband and Portillo's lawyer known either before the trial or when she first became aware of the fact. Even if it did not influence her decision in the case, the photos and connection between the two undermine the perception of impartiality. On the other hand, Guatemala is a pretty small country where most lawyers and judges know each other. They run in the same professional and social circles and it would be really hard to find many judges and lawyers with no personal or professional relationship at all.

Luis Archila, the president of the country's Supreme Court of Justice, says that they will not hesitate to investigate should there be some accusation of corruption. If this is all we have to go on, I can't say that the connection between Veras' husband and Portillo's lawyer is going to be enough to invalidate the decision. There was a second judge who agreed with the ruling. We'll just have to wait for additional details to come out. These connections, however, are not going to help convince the majority of Guatemalans who had already questioned the court's ruling. 

Impunity Reigns Supreme in Guatemala

This is turning in to a rough week for Guatemala and for the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The only good news is that several people were indicted for the murder of Victor Rivera. Now the bad news.

Alfonso Portillo and two other defendants were found not guilty on charges of embezzling several million dollars from the Ministry of Defense during Portillo's term in office. According to two of the three judges that ruled on the case, the prosecution, supported by CICIG, failed to prove that Portillo and the others were directly involved in the theft. The UCN is already planning to run Portillo for congress.

CICIG and the Mutual Support Group (GAM) expressed their dissatisfaction with the court's ruling and the prosecutor's office is appealing the case.

The Monday ruling "reflects the true state of justice in Guatemala," said the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), an office created by the United Nations to clean up the country's legal system.

Costa Rican former attorney general Francisco Dall'Anese, who heads the CICIG, said his office believes it supplied enough evidence to convict the three former officials.

And a rights group known as the Mutual Support Group (GAM) threatened to sue two of the judges on the panel that acquitted Portillo.

In addition to ruling on the appeal, the courts will also have to weigh in on the extradition request submitted by the US so that it can try Portillo on charges of embezzling over million dollars in foreign donations intended to buy school supplies.

On Tuesday, in another sign of impunity in Guatemala, the country's high risk court ordered the release of Alejandro Giammattei, the country's former prison director. Giammattei was accused of participating in the murder of seven inmates during a 2007 uprising at Pavon prison and the alleged execution of three inmates who escaped from the “El Infiernito” prison in 2005.

Two other accused are fighting extradition requests from Switzerland and Spain. CICIG had accused Giammattei, Vielmann, and Sperisen, as well as another 16 people, of belonging to a criminal organization that carried out executions both inside and outside the country's prisons.

The Portillo and Giammattei cases were supposed to bring an end to impunity in Guatemala. Convictions would have sent a former president and former presidential candidate to jail on corruption and murder charges. The international community's investment in CICIG would have been validated. Instead, CICIG's major success remains solving a suicide.

Any one else get the impression that the UN made a mistake extending CICIG's mandate before there was tangible proof that Guatemala had turned a corner in establishing the rule of law? The Guatemalan people deserve better.

Portillo found not guitly

El Periodico

In a surprising verdict yesterday afternoon, a Guatemalan court exonerated former president Alfonso Portillo, former defense minister Eduardo Arevalo Lacs and former finance minister Hiram Maza Castellanos. The three were accused of embezzling 120 million quetzales (~$15 dollars) from the Ministry of Defense during Portillo's 2000-2004 presidential term.

Prensa Libre

Government prosecutors had sought a maximum 10-year prison sentence for the accused. They also wanted the three permanently banned from political life. However, the majority decision (two out of three) stated that the prosecution did not prove its case and that the men should be set the men free.

Siglo XXI

In particular, the court said that two key prosecution witnesses (Jose Armando Llort Quiteño and Solomon Giron Molina, former president and finance director of the National Mortgage Bank) lied under oath and that their testimony was critical to passing judgment on the accused.


This is tough loss for CICIG, the Attorney General's office, and the people of Guatemala. In January I wrote that

Portillo will be the first former president to stand trial in Guatemala, so it is an important test of the CICIG-improved justice system. Hopefully, the trial will not prove as much of an embarrassment as the recent acquittal in Mexico of a man who bragged about killing his girlfriend.

Whatever the outcome, Portillo will probably have to stand trial in the US and/or France at some point as well.

I'm afraid it is an embarrassment one way or another. If Portillo is indeed innocent, CICIG and the Public Prosecutor's office do not look good because they brought the case against him when they lacked sufficient evidence to convict. However if Portillo is indeed guilty of the crimes that he has been accused of, then this brings into serious doubt any improvement in the country's criminal justice system.

 

Portillo is not out of the woods yet. He can still be extradited to the United States to face charges. I imagine that his acquittal yesterday will make his extradition less likely, but I really don't know.

 

While the Guatemalan criminal justice system suffered a severe setback in Portillo's trial, the prosecutor's office and CICIG redeemed themselves did win convictions in the murder of Victor Rivera, a former advisor to the country's Interior Minister.

CICIG Extended to 2013

On Monday, the United Nations General Assembly agreed to extend the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala's (CICIG) mandate another two years until September 2013.  The resolution to extend CICIG's mandate was co-sponsored by seventy nations and approved unanimously.

Colom requested the extension because he did not believe that the justice and security sectors would be able capable of standing on their own by September 2011 when the current extension expires.  He also did not want CICIG's mandate to expire at the same time that the country was conducting national elections, also scheduled for September.

While I am not sure that the government of Guatemala deserves an extension of CICIG's work, the people of Guatemala do.

Here's what I wrote one month ago.

However, given that individuals in the congress, the courts, the executive branch, the military, the police, and in the business world are working to undermine it, I'm not that optimistic that we are about to turn a corner anytime soon. Here are a few things that would make me feel better.

1. Guatemalan leaders and the international community reach an agreement to extend its mandate for five or more years.
2. Next year's presidential candidates come out publicly in support of CICIG and commit to making its recommendations a priority of their administration.
3. Congress passes several of CICIG's recommendations. The president stops trying to appoint people who CICIG has flagged as potentially corrupt to positions of authority.
4. Increase CICIG's staff and resources - specifically, protect Guatemalans working with the organization.
5. Provide a realistic update on the status of the prosecutor's office - when will it be ready to stand on its own two feet.
6. How much can CICIG accomplish without internationalizing the commission to include all of Central America and Mexico (or at least El Salvador)?

Well, I guess there's been a little movement on point number two.

Guatemala News Roundup

Here are some Guatemala stories from the last few days that I found interesting.

Fugitive Guatemalan minister arrested: Former Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann turned himself in to Spanish authorities on Thursday.  He faces charges in both Spain and Guatemala related to the 2006 murder of seven inmates at El Pavon prison.  CNN also has a story about photos allegedly placing Vielmann at the Pavon prison when the inmates were executed.  Vielmann was released on bail later on Thursday with instructions not to leave the country.

Peligra importante asistencia de EEUU a Guatemala: Guatemala is at risk of losing $126 million from the United States for failing to meet the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).  Clare Ribando Seelke has the Congressional Research Service report on Trafficking in Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Migrants risk a river of woes: The Houston Chronicle has a new story on the risk that Central American migrants take in crossing into and through Mexico on their way to the United States.  Among some of the interesting tidbits from the story is a statement by El Salvador's ambassador to Mexico, Hugo Carrillo - "I thought that with the massacre there was going to be at least a temporary drop in the migration. But it hasn't dropped at all... Their situation, their need to improve their lives, makes them run the risks. They are terrified, but they are still coming." 

WOLA and the Miguel Augustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (Center Prodh) have a new report on "A Dangerous Journey through Mexico: Human Rights Violations against Migrants in Transit."  Here's the press release and the report.

Danilo Valladares also had a new report entitled Allegations Taint Anti-Corruption Commission's Efforts.  In it, Valladares reports that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to travel to Guatemala in March or April and is expected to extend CICIG's mandate for two more years.

Parlacen Murders

On Wednesday, a court sentenced eight Guatemalans for their roles in the February 2007 killing of three Salvadoran legislators of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) - Eduardo D'Aubuisson, William Pichinte and Jose Gonzalez - and their driver, Gerardo Ramirez. (EFE, AP, Prensa Libre, El Faro)

Former Guatemalan congressman Manuel de Jesus Castillo was sentenced to 203 years for masterminding the murders which he supposedly carried out "at the behest of erstwhile Salvadoran legislator Roberto Silva Pereira, who wanted revenge against El Salvador's then-ruling ARENA party for having expelled him over alleged criminal activity." 

Salvadoran congressmen, including those from his own ARENA party, had revoked Silva Pereira's immunity so that he could be tried by Salvadoran courts on the charges of money laundering and corruption.  This was his revenge.

Javier Lemus, Carlos Orellana, Marvin Contreras and Obdulio de Leon of the Jalpatagua gang were sentenced to more than 200 years in prison for their part in the quadruple-murder.  Two others received lighter sentences.  Carlos Orellana Donis was convicted of criminal conspiracy, falsifying documents and obstruction of justice (17 years) and Carlos Gutierrez was convicted of being an accomplice to murder (99 years).

Linda Aura was the single defendant acquitted.  She was acquitted of having been an accomplice to murder, racketeering, and conspiracy to cover up murder.  The defendants have ten days to appeal the verdict. 

However, the case probably still won't end as Guatemalan and Salvadoran authorities have to work through the allegation for a former CICIG attorney that pointed to the involvement of other Guatemalan authorities (Vielmman, Sperisen, and Figueroa).  The attorney, Gisele Rivera, has a warrant out for her arrest in Guatemala on a variety of crimes related mostly to misrepresentation.  Her research also found that one of, if not the main motives, was $5 million found in the car along with cocaine.

Rivera also accused Castresana of blocking investigations involving Vielmann, Sperisen, Figueroa and others.  She claimed that a complaint had been lodged with the UN against Castresana in March, three months before his resignation.  These accusations have been the talk of the town for the last two weeks in Guatemala.  However, the Martha Doggett of the UN just said that her office has no record of any such complaint.

Well, we'll just have to see what happens this weekend.