Guatemala’s Problematic Fight Against Impunity

Guatemala’s Eternally-Woeful Tale: The Country’s Problematic Fight Against Impunity

On June 7th, Carlos Castresana announced his resignation from the UN-brokered International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). This joint venture between the United Nations and the Guatemalan government was formed to help eradicate clandestine security groups within the country; specifically, CICIG has targeted members of the government and law enforcement sectors that were engaged in a variety of terrorist-related activities. The Commission’s mandate has enabled it to carry out investigations, aid in criminal prosecutions, as well as recommend legal reforms. Castresana had been leading the Commission since its official commencement in 2006. However, the immediate factors behind Castresana’s resignation were his stated disappointment over the Guatemalan government’s lack of commitment to the Commission’s efforts and the rash of smear tactics that have targeted CICIG’s work as well as his professional and personal life. Although the UN has recently replaced Castresana and plans to continue CICIG’s work until the end of its mandate in 2011, this resignation, at the very least, sends a clear signal to the Guatemalan government that it must take an active role in eliminating corruption and prosecuting criminal offenders if it wants to rehabilitate its shabby reputation in the international community. As human rights specialist Adriana Beltrán observed in an interview with COHA, “it is now time for the Guatemalan government-- the executive, legislature and the courts-- to take concrete steps in supporting the work of CICIG and to demonstrate that they are serious about combating impunity, organized crime and corruption.”

Impunity in Guatemala

Corruption and impunity have pervaded Guatemalan society since the country’s perilous restoration of democracy after the 1996 UN-brokered Peace Accords ended its Civil War. Guatemala suffered the most prolonged civil war in Central America, which lasted over thirty years and accounted for more than 200,000 people killed and missing. During the war, the Guatemalan armed forces committed tens-of-thousands of extraordinarily harsh human rights abuses throughout the country. Many have since described the violence as a genocide due to its consistent targeting of indigenous groups. Although the 1994 Oslo Accords created a Historical Clarification Commission for the country, little has been done to actually prosecute the perpetrators of the human rights abuses. In 2009, former military commissioner Felipe Cusanero was the first person to be convicted in relation to the civil war atrocities and proceeded to receive 150 years for the disappearances of six farmers between 1982 and 1984.

For full article click here

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Julia Nissen

ENDS

© Scoop Media