Protest against corruption in Guatemala, 2015. Wikimedia Commons. All Rights Reserved.

When on September 3 2015
Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina had to resign to stand trial for corruption
allegations, many citizens imagined that the doors were opening for a quick and
peaceful process for the construction democracy and the rule of law in
Guatemala.

Three years later, the spectre of an authoritarian regime with a
democratic facade looms over the country.

That year was atypical. During
the elections that followed the resignation of Pérez Molina, for the first time
in five decades the winner was not the candidate who had lost out in the second
round of the previous elections.

The country’s last five presidents had to run
unsuccessfully a first time and then come up on top at the following elections
– which allowed for an extended period of time in which they could build their public
image.

This time, Manuel Baldizón, who had lost to Pérez Molina in the second
round in 2011, did not even make it to the second round against Sandra Torres, the
outgoing president’s former wife and the candidate of the party in government
from 2008 to 2012, and Jimmy Morales, a popular comedian totally unknown in the
political arena.

The questioning of traditional
politicians as a consequence of the outrageous levels of corruption unveiled by
the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), together with
the urban middle classes’ rejection of President Álvaro Colom’s (2008- 20012)
former wife, explain the comedian’s easy win in the second round of the
elections.

This was in spite of the fact
that he presented no government program and was not backed by a team who had even
the slightest knowledge of public management.

His election victory was, therefore,
a leap in the dark by the voters, who were banking on the (unproven) promise
that the candidate was not corrupt nor a thief.

Businessmen and the well-to-do
middle classes, who were trying to recover the neoliberal project that had been
championed by the now detained Pérez Molina, financed the newly-arrived
comedian’s campaign.

Headed since September 2013 by Colombian public prosecutor Iván Velázquez, the CICIG’s investigations, week after week, led to the preventive detention of a wide range of people accused of corruption and misappropriation of public funds.

The CICIG, established by the
United Nations in 2006 in response to a request from the Guatemalan State to
confront the illegal groups and the clandestine security apparatus (CIACS)
operating in the country, had evolved since its creation and now provided
advice and technology for prosecuting corruption.

This is how, after providing
convincing evidence of illegal acts, former President Pérez Molina was tried
and imprisoned, as well as Vice President Roxana Baldetti and a large number of
former officials and businessmen.

Headed since September 2013 by
Colombian public prosecutor Iván Velázquez, the CICIG’s investigations, week
after week, led to the preventive detention of a wide range of people accused
of corruption and misappropriation of public funds.

And the comedian, now
president, who boasted to be the arch-enemy of corruption, publicly supported
the permanence of CICIG in the country for two more terms – that is, until
2021.

However, in one of the many
cases investigated and denounced in 2016, the president's brother and son were
implicated, and this led to the Commission and the Public Prosecutor's Office
(MP) to request their prosecution, which in turn led to their detention.

Although Morales stated that the situation of his family members did not alter
his support for the CICIG, he gave television interviews in which he justified their
illegal behavior and, from then on, a media and political persecution campaign
was unleashed against the head of the MP and of the CICIG, aimed at
discrediting both of them and at removing the latter.

All of those who had
pending cases with the justice system for crimes of embezzlement and corruption
financed and actively participated in this campaign.

To further complicate the
situation of the president and his associates, the CICIG found that Morales’s
presidential campaign had received undeclared funding – which is considered a
crime under the Guatemalan electoral law.

The CICIG and the MP requested the
withdrawal of the president’s immunity by Congress and his trial by a competent
tribunal.

If the indictment and
imprisonment of his son and brother had already put the president at
loggerheads with the head of the CICIG, now the request to have his immunity removed
resulted, two days later, in the government declaring Velázquez persona non
grata in Guatemala and requiring that he leave the country.

The recently
appointed Human Rights Ombudsman had to take action by filing a request before the
Constitutional Court, and thus managed to prevent the presidential outburst
from materializing.

The CICIG’s successes in its investigation
of countless corruption cases leading to the prosecution and detention of more
than a hundred high and middle-ranking officials, representative and former
congressional leaders, as well as prominent building contractors and
businessmen from other sectors of the economy, has meant that today the
prestige enjoyed by the Commission is almost unanimously shared in the country,
while the president and his associates are increasingly rejected – and
rejection extends to the representatives in Congress, who have refused to remove
the president’s immunity.

The CICIG’s investigations
have not stopped. In April this year, another case of illegal financing of the
president's party was reported, in which some of the most important businessmen
in the country illegally financed the president's campaign through simulated
transactions and false invoices. As his party’s legal representative, this
crime is imputed to him directly.

The businessmen involved have
accepted their responsibility in this case and are currently on probation and being
tried. The president, however, has not.

From the early hours on the
last day of August, police vehicles were stationed in front of the CICIG’s offices
and patrol cars and groups of agents were stationed in front of different media
headquarters, in an ostentatious demonstration of strength – unprecedented in
the last twenty years.

At noon this day, President Morales, flanked by senior
Army and National Police officers, announced his decision not to extend the
mandate of the CICIG, which means that the Commission will have to be out of
the country by September 3, 2019.

The deployment of police forces and the
presence of the military top brass, quite unnecessary for making such an
announcement, left a feeling hanging in the atmosphere that either some major
police action had failed, or that this was in fact the announcement of the
militarization of national security.

The government’s haughty, authoritarian position shows that its aim is none other than to prevent the president from being tried for his alleged faults and crimes, closing any possibility of a negotiated solution to a problem created by a ruler who demonstrates that he considers himself to be above the law.

A few days later, taking
advantage of a trip abroad by Commissioner Iván Velázquez, the government announced
that he would not be allowed back in.

In response to this
announcement, several social organizations staged marches in the Guatemala’s capital
city and put up sit-in blocks on the country’s main roads in support of CICIG
and against the government's decision.

But if the roadside protests received little
police attention, the mobilizations in Guatemala City were monitored and contained
by an unusual display of police presence, escorted by heavily armed military
personnel.

Overnight, the country and particularly
its capital city were militarized, clearly with the aim of frightening the
population and inhibiting social mobilization.

However, with great creativity, people
in different cities took advantage of the Independence Day celebrations to
express their opposition to the president and his decisions, forcing the
government to take shelter behind increasingly ostentatious military and police
presence.

Responding to the request
submitted to allow the Commissioner's return, on the night of Sunday September
16 the Constitutional Court decided favorably, ruling that the order that
prevents his return is illegal.

However, the following afternoon, the
government, instead of abiding, announced its decision to maintain the
prohibition, and demanded that the Secretary General of the United Nations
appoint a new commissioner as soon as possible.

The government’s haughty,
authoritarian position shows that its aim is none other than to prevent the
president from being tried for his alleged faults and crimes, closing any
possibility of a negotiated solution to a problem created by a ruler who
demonstrates that he considers himself to be above the law and
international provisions.

While the most conservative
sectors linked directly or indirectly to corruption and crimes against humanity
committed in the past are closing ranks with the president to avoid being
brought before the courts, different social actors are mobilizing and
organizing to prevent the return to an infamous, somber past of blood and
corruption.

The government is veering away
from diplomacy to resolve the issue, determined to prevent the Commissioner
from coming back thinking that this will solve the president's legal problems.

But Guatemalan society is progressing each day in its capacity to mobilize and
organize. What will be the outcome? 

This
article is being published as part of the partnership between Nueva Sociedad
and democraciaAbierta. You can read the original here.