Guatemala's president surprises critics by renewing UN commission on impunity

Guatemala's president surprises critics by renewing UN commission on impunity

The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala has proved effective in the struggle to fix Guatemala’s justice system, but many had feared President Perez would dismiss its work.

By Geoffrey Ramsey, Guest blogger / March 30, 2012

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina has begun the process of renewing the mandate of a valuable United Nations-backed anti-impunity organization, easing fears about his commitment to judicial reform in the country.

President Perez made good on his promise to support the two-year renewal of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) yesterday, meeting with CICIG head Francisco Dall’Anese in the presidential palace in order to outline the renewal process (link in Spanish). According to Perez, renewing the mandate isn’t very complicated, and only consists of exchanging a few letters with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The CICIG’s current mandate expires in September 2013, but the renewal will add two more years to this deadline. Apart from the extension, Perez told local press that the administration will develop a “road map” of the Commission’s objectives for the next several years, which will be presented to the countries funding the project.

As InSight Crime has noted previously, the CICIG has proved to be extremely effective in the struggle to fix Guatemala’s broken justice system. Because of its importance to the prospect of judicial reform in the country, Perez raised eyebrows during his presidential campaign last summer after he dodged questions about renewing the Commission’s mandate. He further fueled concerns about his dedication to cleaning up the judicial branch when he distanced himself (link in Spanish) from the work of the country’s ambitious Attorney General, Claudia Paz y Paz.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2012/0330/Guatemala-s-president-surprises-critics-by-renewing-UN-commission-on-impunity?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fworld+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+%7C+World%29