Very powerful people and groups fighting against a better life for all Guatemalans

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina has been on the offensive since taking office in 2011. He made a big splash by firmly advocating for changes to regional drug laws, including perhaps decriminalization and legalization of certain drugs. Guatemala hosted a General Meeting of the Organization of American States in 2013 where drug policy took center stage. He and his administration have also dedicated numerous resources to attracting increased foreign direct investment.The country also hosted what appears to have been a successful Investment Summit in 2013.

Government representatives, including the foreign minister, traveled to the US in late 2012 to lobby for more favorable evaluations on various indicators used to determine whether or not the country could qualify for a Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact. I'm not sure how successful they were but they did receive a Threshold Program for the first time. Compacts are in the hundreds of millions of dollars while Threshold Programs are in the tens of millions. In 2014, FUNDESA and CACIF have traveled to the US for much the same reason. They also recently hired Otto Reich to lobby on their behalf in the United States ($113k for five months of work).

This week, Guatemala City will play host to the Americas Society / Council of the Americas' first "Latin American Cities Conference." It's another opportunity for Perez Molina, the government, and the people of Guatemala to demonstrate that they are not international pariah represented in foreign media outlets. I am somewhat sympathetic but, really, not that much.

Guatemala's economy has grown steadily and its homicide rates have been heading in the right direction for several years. If you'd have to pick among the three Northern Triangle countries, I'd say Guatemala has the most potential. However, extreme poverty, inequality, and violence continue to make Guatemala a difficult place to live. It remains a dangerous place for journalists, workers, and human rights advocates. The rule of law remains weak and the government and economic elites' support for those trying to help strengthen it (CICIG, Claudia Paz y Paz, and Yasmin Barrios) is negligible (at best). There are pockets of hope but those with power really just seem to care about themselves.    

El Faro's La Sala Negra has a report on how those in power tried to prevent Paz y Paz from doing her job during her four years as Attorney General. Congress did not appoint members to the AG's advisory council (a body tasked with administrative decisions, which prevented Paz y Paz from removing any of the offices 286 prosecutors and staff, some of whom were believed to have been corrupt of useless. The country's attorney general was inhibited from making moves in the areas of customs and the environment, sources of corruption and repression respectively.

Nomada also has a report on how even after the powers behind the throne in Guatemala successfully overturned the Rios Montt conviction and cut short the crusading Attorney General's term by several months, they haven't given up trying to make her life a living hell. She has been prohibited from leaving the country. Her bank accounts have been frozen.

There are indeed signs of hope in Guatemala but just like the attacks against the peace accords, constitutional reforms, CICIG, and Paz y Paz, there are very powerful people and groups fighting against a better life for all Guatemalans.