The threat to Central America’s prosecutors
Attorneys-general in the countries of the northern triangle have made war on corruption. Politicians are itching to get rid of them
ON MAY 7th hundreds of officials gathered in the ballroom of the Camino Real hotel in Guatemala City to pay tribute to Thelma Aldana, who was stepping down at the end of her four-year term as the country’s attorney-general. A Powerpoint presentation touted her prosecutorial feats. They included jailing the country’s president, Otto Pérez Molina (pictured) in 2015, and the vice-president, Roxana Baldetti. Last year she began an investigation of the current president, Jimmy Morales, on suspicions that he had paid for his campaign illegally. The front-row seat intended for him was empty.
The corruption that Ms Aldana pursued is not new. In Guatemala, as in the other countries in Central America’s “northern triangle”, El Salvador and Honduras, it infects the highest levels of government. Attorneys-general have mostly ignored the crimes of the politicians who appoint them. This contributes to the lawlessness and violence that impel people to flee the region and go to the United States.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "A brief prosecutorial golden age"
From the May 12th 2018 edition
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