Guatemala - The current process to nominate and elect new magistrates for the Supreme Court and the Appellant Courts in Guatemala has suffered from extreme manipulation and political horse trading. The nominees for magistrates are linked to political parties and other powerful interest groups that want to dominate the Guatemalan justice system through the Supreme Court and the appellant courts.
In the last 12 years the justice system of Guatemala has been held hostage by these groups. This is one of the main reasons why impunity reigns in Guatemala. The judges respond to political parties and to other dark interest groups. The conviction rate in courts is so low that the population has lost all faith in the system.
The high profile corruption cases and other criminal cases, often related to organized crime are dismissed or mismanaged. The investigation of the cases is carried out according to the orders of the prosecutors. Evidence disappears or is never collected, witnesses disappear, are killed or are never called in, the accused disappear and can't be apprehended because they are alerted by friends in the justice system. This has been happening over and over again.
It is because of the corruption in the justice system and the consequent impunity in Guatemala that the CICIG, The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala was created in 2007. CICIG´s mandate is to help to investigate the activities of illegal armed groups in Guatemala and to propose necessary legislation to be able to effectively prosecute cases. CICIG has started the investigation of high-impact cases. Crimes related to narco organized crime, corruption of ex-military, prosecution of ex-president Portillo, ex- Fiscal supervisors, investigations of judges and prosecutors accused of corruption. An important number of suspects have been arrested and the processing of the cases in the judicial system has begun. CICIG has demonstrated that it is possible to investigate cases and present evidence for the courts that can hold up in the prosecution of the criminals. CICIG is proving that the justice system in Guatemala can work if the right people are allowed to do their jobs properly.
Guatemala now needs to clean up the corrupt judges, magistrates and prosecutors in the judicial system. A very important part of this clean up is to ensure that the Magistrates nominated and elected this year are not more of the same.
On April 14, Nineth Montenegro, a congresswomen presented a very important law that would provide transparency for the nomination process of the Magistrates. This law has been processed in the Congress, but it did not pass. Congress members from different political parties like GANA, FRG and also UNE did block the passage of the law.
Pro-Justice Groups in Guatemala have taken this matter very seriously and are demanding that President Alvaro Colom and the Congress support the passage of the law.
After the law was blocked in Congress, these Pro-Justice groups, Foro Guatemala, Fundación Mirna Mack, and others are appealing to the Congress and President Colom to pass the law. CICIG is also supporting this initiative.
There is a matter of urgency for the law to be passed now. The Congress has to announce officially the initiation of the nomination process in mid May, according to the law. The nomination process lasts 4 months; in October 2009 the new magistrates have to be elected by Congress.
The Congress also leaves for vacation in mid may. There is very little time left to pass the law.
The UNE party insists that the passage of the fiscal package has to be accomplished now and is more important.
The other reason why there is little enthusiasm in Congress to pass the law is because the powers to be, have already selected their nominees and the negotiations and political horse trading has already taken place.
The power structures that want to continue with the same patterns of impunity in Guatemala have already been at work. They do not drop the ball. They are the same people who want to keep Guatemala as a feudal system at their disposal. Democracy has no meaning for them. They are in charge and they want to stay in charge by all means necessary. You can hear them on the radio, read their columns and protest against the work of CICIG. They are not hiding, they are not anonymous, and they are very visible if on pays attention.
If this law to ensure the transparency of the nomination process of Magistrates is not passed, Guatemala will probably have 5 more years of a corrupt justice system. The fight against organized crime and their connections to the power structures in Guatemala will be very difficult.
There is one more option if this law does not pass, some sectors have proposes a process of supervision of the nomination process by international observers and Guatemalan pro justice groups. This mechanism could also provide more transparency for the nomination process.
For more background information about this issue read "Elections for new magistrates can make or break Guatemala's justice system" April 14.
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