CICIG doesn't make life uncomfortable enough in Guatemala

In arguing that the US should support a $1 billion investment in the Northern Triangle of Central America, VP Joe Biden said that Guatemala had recently made progress tackling corruption and organized crime. However, the specific progress to which he referred involved networks disrupted by CICIG, not really the government of Guatemala. That should raise red flags. It appears that no one around the Obama administration was able to come up with an example of progress that came directly from the Guatemalan government (Nomada).

So as of right now, we are assisting a government that has barely lifted a finger to help CICIG, whose president and vice president have been linked to serious corruption scandals and attacks against freedom of the press, whose attorney general seems to be favoring friends and political connections in determining which corruption allegations to investigate, and whose interior minister and representative as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations have been linked to organized crime. Two glimmers of hope in the pursuit of justice, Claudia Paz y Paz and Yassmin Barrios, have been effectively sidelined.

All this is taking place as a presidential commission in Guatemala deliberates on whether to ask for an extension of CICIG's mandate beyond its September expiration (International Justice Monitor). On the one hand, you can just give up. Such high-level corruption has continued two decades after significant investments in the rule of law and nearly a decade into CICIG's existence. I understand this sentiment and, at times, share it.

While CICIG's record isn't perfect, it is clear that future assistance to Guatemala should be conditioned on an extension of its mandate. It might also be time to revisit developing CICIG for Honduras and El Salvador or one that works to coordinate judicial reforms across and within all three countries.