A setback in the fight for justice

Lutherans in Guatemala protest expulsion of commissioner investigating impunity and corruption

(LWI) - The Communion of Lutheran Churches of Guatemala has expressed regret and objection to the government's expulsion of the Commissioner of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The churches say the order to Iván Velásquez Gómez to leave the country, poses a major setback to the ongoing fight against corruption and impunity.

Appointed by the United Nations, Velásquez Gómez has been at the head of the CICIG since 2013. The independent international body was established at the request of the Guatemalan government in 2007 to expose individuals and criminal groups believed to have infiltrated state institutions, fostering impunity and undermining democratic gains made by the country since the 1996 peace agreement that ended decades of armed internal conflict.

“A danger for justice, peace, democracy and human rights”

In a statement opposing the government’s action, the communion representatives argued that Velásquez Gómez, a Colombian,  together with the Office of the Public Prosecutor, are “engaged in a very important fight against corruption of senior officials in the country, with unprecedented results in the country's history. … [They] have managed to investigate and dismantle various structures of corruption that had infiltrated even the highest spheres of the state, thus guarding against impunity.”

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales ordered the commissioner to immediately leave the country on 26 August, the same day on which thousands of people representing indigenous organizations, civil society and university students staged demonstrations to affirm support for the work of CICIG and the Attorney General’s office. They also demanded the president’s resignation.