HomeNewsBriefCentral America Elites Continue Onslaught Against Anti-Graft Commissions
BRIEF

Central America Elites Continue Onslaught Against Anti-Graft Commissions

ELITES AND CRIME / 26 MAR 2018 BY BJORN KJELSTAD EN

Elites in Guatemala and Honduras are continuing their campaign to defang anti-corruption commissions in their respective countries with a series of new moves aimed at getting rid of the independent bodies or severely hampering their capabilities.

On March 18, Guatemala’s Interior Minister Enrique Dagenhart announced the transfer of 11 agents who had previously worked with the United Nations-backed anti graft body known as the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala – CICIG).

In response, CICIG head Iván Velásquez released a statement to Dagenhart demanding the return of the agents and an explanation for the transfer. On March 21, Dagenhart replied that the move would be “temporary.”

In neighboring Honduras, recent press reports revealed that a group of lawyers representing five congressman who have been indicted on charges of corruption submitted a case earlier this month to the Supreme Court seeking to declare the Support Mission against Corruption and Impunity (Misión de Apoyo contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad en Honduras - MACCIH) unconstitutional.

Additionally, on March 20, the congress passed a law reforming asset forfeiture procedures to prevent it from being applied retroactively, among other things. Critics argued that the law was meant to protect corrupt elites from having the proceeds of their illicit activities seized by authorities.

InSight Crime Analysis

The recent attempts by entrenched elites to undermine the CICIG and the MACCIH are a continuation of stepped-up efforts to derail anti-graft drives in recent months.

A law passed in Honduras in January essentially stripped the ability of the Attorney General’s Office to effectively investigate the management of public funds. The passage of the law spurred the resignation of MACCIH head Juan Jiménez Mayor, who called it an “impunity pact.”

The most recent attempt to challenge the constitutionality of MACCIH has the potential to terminate the commission altogether. The future of MACCIH is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is packed with allies of current President Juan Orlando Hernández, who himself has faced allegations of corruption.

SEE ALSO: InDepth Coverage of Elites and Organized Crime

A similar trend has been observed in Guatemala, where corrupt elites have ramped up attempts to curb high-level corruption investigations.

One of the most blatant recent moves against the CICIG came in late 2017 when President Jimmy Morales unsuccessfully tried to remove Velázquez, the body’s top official, from the country.

Since then, the Morales administration has taken other steps to undermine anti-corruption efforts, including firing the head of Guatemala’s tax agency, Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa, who led high-profile corruption investigations targeting members of Guatemala’s top brass. And in March, Interior Minister Degenhart ousted national police director Nery Ramos y Ramos along with several of his top advisors in a move that was widely condemned as an attempt to interfere with ongoing graft investigations.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 18 MAY 2022

The jungle region known as La Mosquitia in northeast Honduras has been an ideal corridor for international drug trafficking. However,…

GUATEMALA / 7 FEB 2022

In this run-down neighborhood in Guatemala City, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) does not exist. And yet, there are still a…

ECUADOR / 7 OCT 2022

Any chance of peace between warring gangs in Ecuador appears to be defunct after another two massacres.

About InSight Crime

WORK WITH US

Open Position: Social Media and Engagement Strategist

27 MAY 2023

InSight Crime is looking for a Social Media and Engagement Strategist who will be focused on maintaining and improving InSight Crime’s reputation and interaction with its audiences through publishing activities…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…