Guatemala, March 24, 2010 The election of the Attorney General is important in every country because this is a constitutional function. The Attorney General is in charge of public prosecution and in many countries, including Guatemala, he is solely responsible for public prosecution, which may not be undertaken by private individuals and interested third parties.

The Nominations Committee is faced with the difficult task of drawing up a list of six candidates among which the President of the Republic must choose the one he feels is best suited to fill that high office in the coming years.

The Committee must find the best among persons of good repute, who must meet academic and professional excellence criteria, but above all be independent and impartial. These must be persons whose career paths assure Guatemalans that prosecution lies in reliable hands, and that is a very difficult task. However, on the list of candidates submitted for its consideration there are people who meet those criteria. Therefore, Guatemala has given the Committee the task of selecting the top six from the list of candidates.

Universities are centers of learning and thus fundamental for independence, for academics, and the Committee must determine who the ideal candidate is, who that independent and impartial candidate is, because the legal value the Guatemalan constitution attaches to that person is of extraordinary importance.

We only make recommendations; we cannot make decisions.

We suggest that you subject those on the short list of 10, 15 people that you consider most appropriate to an extensive interview. Take your time, ask them questions, review their résumés, consider their merits and also any negative information, because these people are better able than anyone to clarify and rectify, to correct what we or other entities might be saying, which might be mistaken.

Choose a good captain, because he has to steer the ship for four years in a situation that will be very difficult, and that is not a job for anyone. This is a post for the best candidate you can find on the list that was submitted for you to decide.