HomeNewsBriefGuatemala Arrests President's Son-in-Law
BRIEF

Guatemala Arrests President's Son-in-Law

ELITES AND CRIME / 10 JUL 2015 BY ARRON DAUGHERTY EN

Another scandal involving people close to Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina has surfaced, calling attention not just to the president but deep-seated corruption issues within Guatemala's political system.  

Gustavo Martinez, son-in-law and general secretary to Perez Molina, was one of several people arrested under suspicion of forming part of an influence-trafficking network, local media reported. 

The detainees are accused of using their political influence to the benefit of energy firms such as Jaguar Energy, one of the country's biggest electricity companies, in exchange for bribes. Others arrested included former Energy and Mines Minister Edwin Ramos Rodas Solares and businessman Cesar Augusto Medina Farfan.

These latest allegations are not an isolated incident. Separate scandals involving Guatemala's police, judges, customs agency and social security agency have also recently come to light.   

Martinez also forms part of a growing number of people close to Perez Molina who have been accused of wrongdoing. Most notably, Guatemala's Vice President stepped down earlier this year after being accused of links to a customs fraud ring. 

Meanwhile, Guatemala's Supreme Court recently stripped Perez of his presidential immunity. This paves the way for a previously halted congressional probe into any alleged connection he may have with these scandals.

In a press conference following a visit from a top US State Department official, Guatemala's president said he did not plan to resign. "I won't step down, I'll continue with this struggle," Perez Molina said, adding "I have nothing to hide." 

InSight Crime Analysis

Perez's time in office ends January 2016, and he is undoubtedly in for a rough time politically until then. During massive protests earlier this year, many called for his resignation. 

However, nor should this political malfeasance be seen as something exclusively practiced during Perez's administration. Many of Guatemala's political elites have long been involved in corruption schemes, frequently with million-dollar contracts at stake. As an InSight Crime investigation revealed, corruption and organized crime have become an intrinsic part of Guatemala's political process, to the point where it would not be outrageous to say that Guatemala practically operates like a mafia state. Political groups routinely embezzle public funds and use their positions to enrich allies and themselves. This widespread corruption has spread to the nation's judicial system, virtually ensuring corruption will go unpunished.

SEE ALSO: The War for Guatemala's Courts

United Nations anti-impunity body the CICIG -- which spearheaded the investigation that have lead to these arrests -- have inarguably done much to improve accountability in Guatemala. Whether it can do more to ultimately root out corruption at the heart of the nation's judiciary remains to be seen. 

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

ELITES AND CRIME / 11 NOV 2022

Sanctions are turning the screw on Haiti's major gangs and leaders, who fuel constant violence in the country.

COCAINE / 8 FEB 2022

Officials in the United States have revealed that former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández is in fact included on a…

CARTEL OF THE SUNS / 2 MAY 2022

In 2013, Nicolás Maduro became president of one of the world’s most important cocaine hubs, inheriting a unique drug trafficking…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…