Guatemala City. CICIG, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, directed by Carlos Castresana and the new Minister of the Interior, Carlos Menocal, have notified the congress of Guatemala and the congresswoman, Nineth Montenegro of the discovery of a plot to kill her. They stated that they are in full investigation of the case. Carlos Castresana and the Minister of the Interior, Carlos Menocal, have expressed their concern that an attempt to kill the congresswoman could generate a similar destabilization of the countries democratic institutions as the Rosenberg case did. (The President, the First Lady and all others accused where exonerated in that case.)
The other hypotesis for the threat against the congresswomen is to prevent her from continuing her work in the congress. Nineth Montenegro is a member of the political party "Encuentro por Guatemala", she has been in congress since 1996. Her reputation for fiscalization of public funds is well recognized. She is currently in opposition to the government of Alvaro Colom. For months she has been very active and persistent in demanding the complete dataset, including the legal identifications (número de Cedula) of beneficiaries of the governments social cohesion cash transfer program. She denounced the lack of transparency of the program. The Guatemalan media took a very active part in supporting the congresswomen in her attempts to gain access to the information of this particular governmental program.
The case was brought to the highest levels of the justice system, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala. The court ordered the delivery of the dataset to the congresswomen. Guatemala's former Minister of Education, Bienvenido Argueta, was responsible for the delivery of the data, he refused to hand over the information, the arguments where that this was confidential information regarding private citizens of Guatemala. The Constitutional Court ruled that he should be removed from office for refusing to obey the court ruling.
The Ex - Minister of Education Bienvenido Argueta has a very solid reputation as a serious and recognized specialist in Education, his removal from office has been regretted by members of the opposition and the government alike.
If the congresswoman is killed, the blame would fall on the government, given the current situation of her investigations of government funds in the cash transfer program. Her death could be used by enemies of the government, by the mafias, drug gangs and others who would benefit from a fragile state.
It has been suggested that she should leave the country for her own safety and the safety of her family. Congresswoman Nineth Montenegro says she will stay in Guatemala to continue with her work. She now has accepted certain protection measures.
The dispute surrounding the publication of the data of private citizens who are the recipients of the cash transfer program of the government has been a matter of bitter controversy in Guatemalan society, the press, the congress and the First Lady, Sandra de Colom, who is head of the Social Cohesion program.
Social cohesion programs to reduce poverty, inequalities and exclusion are being implemented successfully in several continents. Latin America has successful examples in Brazil and Mexico. Mayor development partners like the EU, USA, World Bank, IBD and others have supported this approach for a decade and have integrated it into their development assistance plans for the future.
Picture: Carlos Menocal, Guatemala´s Minister of the Interior
