What does one do after Judge Jasmin Barrios oversees some of the most important convictions (Gerardi, Dos Erres, and, at least for some time, Efrain Rios Montt) in Guatemala's history? The country's bar association suspends her (apparently now modified to a private reprimand).
What does one do after Claudia Paz y Paz oversees tremendous progress in the attorney general's office and the application of justice in Guatemala including a significant increase in prosecutions and convictions and a significant decrease in homicides? You cut short her term of course. What then happens when she gets the second highest score in an evaluation of those postulating to be the next attorney general? She doesn't even make the top six candidates recommended for the job.
Hopefully, the next attorney general does as good of a job, or even better, as Paz y Paz. The criminal justice system needs to be built on more than one or two people. However, the recent attacks against Barrios and Paz y Paz demonstrate once again that the country's political and economic elite are not interested in serious institutional reforms that would threaten their entrenched interests.
No comments:
Post a Comment