CICIG Archives - Global Americans

Smart News & Research for Latin America's Changemakers

CICIG

Democracy & Elections

In Guatemala, a presidential election in disarray

By Lucas Perelló / June 6, 2019

Corruption and an unpopular president have paved the way for a crowded field of mostly unknown presidential hopefuls. After the country’s Constitutional Court ruled against two top contenders, the election shifted from a relatively safe bet to an uncertain race.

Guatemalan rule of law at risk as Morales strikes CICIG again

By Luis E. Barrueto / January 11, 2019

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales is playing constitutional hardball with the country’s top court, which in recent months has been the sole obstacle to his attempts to oust CICIG. Now the entire judicial system—and the country’s fragile democracy—is at risk.

North America

Ten highlights from Global Americans in 2018

December 14, 2018

We combed through all of our publications from 2018 and selected what we thought were the best ten articles that captured the trends and events of the past year.

Democracy & Elections

How big business enables authoritarianism in Central America

By Javier Gutiérrez / September 27, 2018

Business elites have been willfully complicit in the pan-ideological rise of strongmen in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.

U.S.-Latin America Relations

The U.S. decision to abandon CICIG in Guatemala doesn’t make moral or geostrategic sense

By Benjamin N. Gedan / September 6, 2018

U.S. policy is never governed purely by moral calculations. But in the case of CICIG, it is hard to detect any concerns that remotely outweigh the U.S. interest in establishing the rule of law in Guatemala.

Human Rights & Social Inclusion

U.S.-Latin America Relations

Targeting the good guys in a country overrun by villains

By Benjamin N. Gedan / May 11, 2018

The recent criticism of CICIG from outside Guatemala is unexpected, unfair and shamefully counterproductive. The attacks only aid the local thugs, crooks and assassins that victimize Guatemalans.

Democracy & Elections

The case for a Nobel Peace Prize for CICIG

By Benjamin N. Gedan / October 27, 2017

Despite CICIG’s current challenges in Guatemala, the organization’s work to battle corruption in the trouble Central American country has been remarkable; a Nobel Prize may just help keep it alive.

Democracy & Elections

Graft-busters on collision course with Guatemala’s political class

By Luis E. Barrueto / September 12, 2017

As President Morales and the political class join forces to undermine investigators and the judicial processes currently underway, the role of citizens will prove crucial in tilting the balance in favor of justice and the continued fight against impunity.

U.S.-Latin America Relations

Guatemala’s new round of corruption revelations. Deeper than thought.

By Mirte Postema / June 16, 2016

As Northern Triangle countries get ready to receive $750 million in aid, the CICIG issued new evidence indicating the extent to which ousted President Pérez Molina had turned the Guatemalan state into a vast criminal enterprise complicit with the private sector.