Increasing presence of drug cartels is said to have exacerbated the already rife problem of political corruption in Guatemala's police force
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) – Guatemala’s new president must create policies to curb corruption, which people fear is “out of control” in the country, starting by breaking cosy ties between government officials and financers of political campaigns, Transparency International (TI) has said.
Right-wing Otto Perez Molina took office last week promising a tough stance on violent crime and drug trafficking. The retired army general won November’s presidential elections after leftist former President Alvaro Colom failed to contain these rife issues in Central America’s largest economy.
"We take over a country in crisis, a country close to moral bankruptcy, where respect for authority and the rule of law has been replaced by a culture of corruption and impunity," the president said during his inauguration ceremony.
The Central America nation of 14 million people has one of the world’s highest murder rates. Much of the soaring violence is blamed on Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel and other criminal organisations.
“We’re at the mercy of the drug traffickers. There’s a perceived feeling that we’re losing the fight against the drug cartels and that corruption is out of control,” Manfredo Marroquin, head of Transparency International’s chapter in Guatemala, told TrustLaw.
“Corruption and crime go hand in hand. You can’t understand the security situation without corruption. Organised crime and corruption feed off from one another.”
Over the last five years the Zetas have encroached into Guatemala, which is a major transit route for cocaine smuggled from South America to the United States.
Roughly 90 percent of cocaine entering the United States is thought to pass through Guatemala and its Central American neighbours, according to the United Nations (U.N).
The Zetas, whose ranks include former members of the Guatemalan military, fight for the control of lucrative cocaine corridors across Guatemala.
BREAKING COSY TIES
In a country with weak judiciary and institutions, the increasing presence of the Zetas and other drug cartels is said to have exacerbated the already widespread problem of political corruption and graft among the police force in Guatemala.
“As the Zetas have moved into Guatemala, they have bought off government and police officials. They are in charge and in control of some areas of the country,” said Marroquin, adding corruption among customs and border officials is known to be particularly rife.
Last year’s presidential elections in Guatemala were marred by allegations of vote-buying, unregulated campaign finance and cosy ties between some political candidates and criminals, the anti-corruption watchdog says.
Drug bosses and criminal gangs have sought to win influence over political candidates, in some cases paying them, so that they can protect their business interests and drug-smuggling routes.
“The paying of favours is visible. One of the first steps the new government needs to take is to break the ties between those financing political campaigns and government officials,” Marroquin said.
Laws against illicit enrichment – which some countries use to prevent their public officials from amassing vast amounts of money – do not exist in Guatemala.
“Unlike most countries in Latin America and the rest of the world, there’s no specific law against illicit enrichment. That crime doesn’t exist here,” Marroquin said.
Guatemala’s leading daily, Prensa Libre, recently underlined the major challenges facing the new president, “in a country that is weary, tired, disappointed and hurt by the constant repetition of corrupt practices.”
The paper’s editorial said Guatemala’s president needs to “combat the current scars of corruption, abuse of power and other immoral and illegal acts, which for such a long time have been common among the government, resulting in a blatant disappointment for democracy as a political system.”
In recent years, steps have been taken to tackle corruption and make progress on prosecuting high-profile criminals in Guatemala.
In 2007, the U.N.-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) was created. Since then the independent body, based in the capital Guatemala City, has exposed major corruption scandals.
The commission’s investigations have led to the purge of over 2,000 corrupt police, including top police officials, an interior minister, and the arrest of Guatemala’s former president, Alfonso Portillo, who faced trial in 2010 for charges of embezzling public funds.
But while most applaud the commission’s efforts, recent governments have done little to combat graft.
“Previous governments have done nothing to stop corruption. No government has had a real policy to combat corruption. Consecutive governments have set up the odd commission but nothing much else has been done,” said Marroquin.
“Among society there’s quite a lot of optimism for the new president. They want to believe in something. But as yet there’re no sign of a clear government policy to stop the high levels of corruption.”
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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