President Gustavo Petro came out in defense of his minister saying that he will never accept an arrest warrant and called the ambassador in Guatemala, Victoria González, “immediately for consultation.” The Colombian official is accused of alleged illegal actions when he served as head of a UN anti-mafias mission in that country
The Guatemalan Public Ministry announced its intention to bring Colombian Defense Minister Iván Velásquez to justice for alleged illegal actions when he served as head of a UN anti-mafias mission in that country, the CICIG. The current Colombian Defense Minister led from 2013 until its closure in 2019 the so-called International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala.
That entity attached to the UN and the Public Ministry revealed several corruption scandals. Among others, the one that involved former president Otto Pérez, who was accused of leading a customs fraud structure. Otto Pérez was sentenced to 16 years in prison last December.
The head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), Rafael Curruchiche, explained in a video broadcast on networks that the Colombian Defense Minister Iván Velásquez and the former Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana granted the “go-ahead” in 2017 to sign the “effective collaborator” agreements in the investigation into the Odebrecht case.
#CaseAcuerdosFraudulentosCorrupciónEImpunidad
The Special Prosecutor against Impunity reports: pic.twitter.com/mO7gEJqlqC— Guatemalan MP (@MPguatemala) January 16, 2023
Both Velásquez and Aldana are accused of endorsing, presumably irregularly, these protected witness agreements.
Both “had full knowledge of the dark and corrupt negotiations that were taking place” with Odebrecht, adds the FECI special prosecutor.
Aldana, awarded in 2018 with the so-called “Alternative Nobel” together with Velásquez for leading an unprecedented fight against corruption in Guatemala, has been in asylum in the United States since 2020.
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This announcement is in addition to several arrests against former CICIG officials and former FECI prosecutors, most accused of abuse of authority by the Public Ministry in charge of Consuelo Porras, sanctioned by the United States, which included her in its list of “in 2021.” corrupt and undemocratic.
The Minister Velasquez He rejected the accusation and indicated that he had not “been notified of any requirement by the Guatemalan authorities.”
— Iván Velásquez Gómez (@Ivan_Velasquez_) January 17, 2023
President Gustavo Petro came out in defense of his minister saying that he will never accept an arrest warrant and called the ambassador in Guatemala, Victoria González, “immediately for consultation.”
I will never accept the arrest warrant for our Minister Velasquez. He proved to fight against corruption and we will not allow corruption to persecute him.
Our ambassador is immediately called for consultation.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 17, 2023
In response, the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which he “regrets” the politicization of a legal issue by the Colombian authorities, whom he accuses of making “abrupt decisions.”
“We have decided by reciprocity to call the Guatemalan ambassador in Colombia for consultations,” the text adds.
While the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the US State Department, Brian A. Nichols, said Tuesday that he was concerned about Guatemala’s decision. «Such actions weaken the Rule of law and confidence in the Guatemalan justice system,” he said on his Twitter account.
We are concerned about the arrest warrants for the @MPguatemala against people who worked to guarantee the #Accountability for corruption in the Odebrecht case in Guatemala. Such actions weaken the #Rule of law and confidence in the Guatemalan justice system.
— Brian A. Nichols (@WHAAsstSecty) January 17, 2023
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