The UN anti-corruption mission in Guatemala comes to an end

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig) concluded on Tuesday after the president, Jimmy Morales, reversed his promise to request an extension until 2021. These were some of his achievements and criticisms of his 12 years of operation.

An unprecedented fight against corruption in Guatemala comes to an end on Tuesday, with the closure of a UN anti-mafia mission that came to accuse sectors considered untouchable and led to the resignation in 2015 of then President Otto Pérez.

(You may be interested: Guatemala: with the exit of the Cicig, is the fight against corruption drifting?)

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig), a United Nations entity unique in the world, ends its mandate after 12 years of operation after President Jimmy Morales reversed his promise to request an extension until 2021.

We appreciate the affection of the Guatemalan citizens but we must deliver the facilities as we receive them. This image will always remain in the minds and hearts of thousands and thousands who still dream of a country where they can live with dignity. pic.twitter.com/Ykulw00VZF

– Iván Velásquez Gómez (@Ivan_Velasquez_) September 2, 2019

Morales, who once praised Cicig's work, came to point to the mission of being a threat to the peace of the country and banned the return of his boss, the ex-Colombian Colombian Iván Velásquez, whom he declared a non grata person and accused of interfering in internal affairs of Guatemala (after several people close to Morales were investigated by the mission).

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The exit of the Cicig leaves a situation of uncertainty about the continuity of high-impact investigations and the attack on the root of corruption. Numerous activists believe that the closure was pushed by powerful economic sectors that were threatened by the scope of the mission.

"We Guatemalans are witnessing the exit of Cicig due to these pressures from the dark sectors," Eleonora Muralles, president of the Family and Friends Association Against Crime and Kidnapping (FADS), told AFP.

"We investigated these powers that were previously hidden and now have been unmasked, belonging to economic elites who were not allowed to touch them here. Then they want to reverse what has been worked on or that there are no more cases," the activist added.

(See more: Ultimatum to 11 Cicig officials to leave Guatemala)

The balance of the Cicig

The Cicig took businessmen, soldiers, deputies, mayors and other designated sectors of corruption to the dock.

Although it started operating in 2007 at the request of the Guatemalan government, it was in 2015 when Cicig stirred up the country by revealing a fraud in customs that led to the resignation of the then president, Otto Pérez, appointed as ringleader of the scam.

(You may be interested: The fall of Otto Pérez Molina)

In August 2017, Velásquez and the then attorney general Thelma Aldana asked to withdraw the privileges of the current president, Jimmy Morales, by finding signs of illegal electoral financing in his 2015 campaign, but Congress has avoided depriving him of immunity.

A year earlier, an investigation by the prosecution and Cicig led to the arrest of a brother and son of Morales for an irregular food contract. Both were acquitted last month.

The president and the detractors of the Cicig have insisted that the mission made unfounded accusations, violated the presumption of innocence and was selective in their cases.

(See more: Jimmy Morales says that no international body can "undermine peace")

Muralles rejected those arguments, noting that "Cicig sought and found those dark negotiations", and indicated that business sectors of the country "allied themselves to this Mr. Jimmy Morales who of course preferred to serve as a carpet and the country no longer cared."

Thank you @Cicig for the legacy of justice and citizen awareness. Together we did it !!! #JuntosWe Will DoNew

– Thelma Aldana (@ThelmaAldana) September 2, 2019

Álvaro Montenegro, a member of the Alliance for Reforms collective, agreed that Cicig "touched the heart of impunity and corruption" in "characters who have a very strong economic power."

For the activist, avoiding a setback in the fight against corruption fueled by Cicig will be a "big challenge" for Guatemalan civil society.

"It will be a responsibility of the citizens to be pushing the Public Ministry. To be watching, supervising and demanding that this work be continued," anti-corruption, he added.

What he leaves behind his mission

The Right Livelihood Foundation, which delivered in 2018 its so-called alternative Nobel to Aldana and Velásquez, called the work of Cicig "one of the most successful anti-corruption campaigns in the world."

(See more: Iván Velásquez is recognized with the Alternative Nobel for anti-corruption fight)

"His experience should be used as a roadmap for the future also in other parts of the world where corruption is damaging society," Ole von Uexkull, director of the foundation, said in a statement.

The Cicig in its final report highlighted that it dismantled 70 criminal structures, brought 600 people to trial and obtained 400 sentences.

The president-elect, Alejandro Giammattei, refused to ask for the continuity of the Cicig and instead announced the creation of an anti-corruption commission from the government with international support.

"I think that my main achievements have to do with generating a citizen conscience … That it is possible to carry out serious and deep investigations regardless of who the person being investigated is," Velasquez said in a disclosed interview. by the UN.

Former Aldana, who tried to run for president, expressed on Twitter her recognition of the mission: "Thank you Cicig for the legacy of justice and citizen awareness. Together we did it."