CICIG - The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala
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        Photo note
At the forum "Young and Committed", Commissioner Iván Velásquez called upon the youth to join forces in fighting impunity.

We are looking the monster in the face.
And we are holding its gaze.

Carlos Castresana, CICIG Commissioner

Excerpts from the interview on "Viva la mañana" on Guatevisión
Guatemala, March 18, 2010.

Former President Alfonso Portillo extradited
This is good news because the rule of law prevails. I understand that many Guatemalans feel pain, they even feel shame to see a former president who has represented them all subject to criminal prosecution, but it was he who decided to launder money in the United States, and that cannot be blamed on anyone else.

The message is that everybody is subject to the rule of law; that there are no differences among citizens. That the principle of equality prevails, and that regardless of how important the public office you hold or ever held is, if you break the law, sooner or later you will have to answer.

Likely Scenarios
This trial is expected to take time, maybe a couple of years. The defendant will exhaust the available legal remedies in an effort to have the decision overturned; but if it is confirmed, it will be executed inexorably sooner or later.

At the same time, there is another case that has priority: the one that is being tried in Guatemalan courts. That means that we will spend some time playing at those two tables simultaneously: the embezzlement case, which is being tried in Guatemalan courts, and the money laundering case, which is tried in a New York court.

Threats against judges
The arrest of former President Portillo in late January has disrupted many of the activities of courts, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and even the Commission. This is due to the reactions that have taken place, not just on the part of the former president himself or his inner circle, but of a social sector that supported him and still considers him a popular person, which has reacted and has done so in a dangerous way. The criminal structure that we believe is behind former President Portillo is reacting as well. It is a very powerful group that had never been disturbed and now considers the prosecution a threat and an aggression, and unfortunately, but predictably, reacts by returning the pressure, the threat or aggression.

I would say that the other good news is that the judges were able to withstand that pressure. Guatemala today can feel proud of its judges, not so much due to the resolution itself, but to the fact that after receiving death threats, they have resisted the pressure.

Reacting to statements
There is no reaction on our part; we will deal with the defendants in court. I do not think it is good for us to argue as if we were in the same position, since we are not and should not be. Yes, we note that these kinds of statements, which are the same that we have read in some newspapers, written by certain columnists since January 25, are part of that reaction I was talking about. The problem is that in Guatemala, criminal organizations had never been confronted. CICIG is doing it, but so is the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Judiciary. Let's say it: we are looking the monster in the face, we are holding its gaze, and it is reacting.

What should be done now?
We should not panic, but stay calm, do what needs to be done, continue doing our work, which I think is what the country needs, insisting a lot and reminding the government authorities: you cannot continue failing to protect judges; they need to have armored vehicles, be able to sit in court and hand down rulings without having to worry about their families; that has to be taken care of. We have been saying this for a year. Let us insist now, before we have to regret casualties.

What is to be expected?
A normal criminal proceeding is to be expected. This would be the desirable goal for Guatemalans. The outcome of the trial, i.e. guilt or innocence, is for the judges to decide.

Are we in a position to carry out a transparent trial here in the country?
I think we are starting to be. That is the positive change that is taking place. The message is one of hope, even if people feel dismay at seeing a former president taken to court. I think the message bodes well for the future: it can be done; we are proving it week after week.

Attorney General
We are participating in the process of election of the Attorney General without proposing candidates, but making sure that the person selected is not someone the country does not deserve, that the country will regret later. The same thing goes for the Public Defender’s Institute: we will re-examine the applications, not propose any candidates, but certainly point out those who are clearly unsuitable for the job.

Pressures
There have been no bribery attempts. There have been threats; that comes with the territory. We are responsible, we are not reckless; we know the dangers we face.

Progress
What has caused much surprise and reaction is that very few people expected us to take our mandate literally. And there are many people who still have misgivings and say, ‘Why pick on this group and not the other?’ Listen, we have limited resources. We also have a waiting list. We will take up the cases when they are ready. You do not solve them when you want, but rather when the time is right.

We are also asked this about the murder of Khalil and Marjorie Musa. It would be good if we had the answer, but we do not have it yet. I hope that we will be able to solve in the short term, but we cannot produce results when we want; our agenda is based on events, on the assistance we receive, on witnesses’ cooperation, on the results of forensic evidence, so we have an agenda and try to follow it. I think we're doing a thorough job, but again, we do not work for public opinion. Sometimes we do things that are popular and sometimes we do things that are not understood, but our control mechanisms are very strict. I have never received an indication from the U.N. Secretary General on what we must do or not do with the cases, but we have constant and rigorous monitoring to ensure that we do not do anything unwise.

Scope of the mandate
A case of pure corruption is beyond our mandate. No matter how big the case, the amount embezzled, or the importance of the people involved. We accused former president Portillo of having stolen funds from the Ministry of Defense for a criminal structure called The Brotherhood. This last part is what justifies our presence in the case.

In the Ministry of Finance case, as far as we know, this would be outright fraudulent conduct that does not involve funding of any criminal structure; therefore it is outside our mandate. Again, we are very strict when we select cases, precisely so they will not be thrown out in court, and in this instance we find no reason, regardless of how important or significant the cases may be from another point of view, to take them on.

Sometimes cases come up to meet us, along the way, like what happened with the murder of lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg, but we try to choose among them, sometimes with time to spare and sometimes in a hurry, but always in keeping with the mandate.

The Future
Regarding a possible extension of CICIG, something is very clear. Whatever the Secretary General decides to negotiate with the president is up to them. The horizon for CICIG is September 2011. By then we have to have succeeded in establishing judges, prosecutors and police officers who are transparent, reliable, well trained, committed to the country, of whom you can be proud.

Guatemala
Guatemala is a country with an enormous future, because more than half its population is under 25, and civil society has begun to understand for the first time that the changes the country needs can be made, that you can play by the rules, you can trust the rule of law, that this is no longer "every man for himself." But that requires a permanent effort on the part of Guatemalans.

The question is: Where were Guatemalans at the most critical moments of this Commission? We are not making the effort in the interest of the United Nations or the people that make up CICIG. We are working for Guatemalans, but if you [do not support our efforts] and do not take charge of your destiny, after a while nothing will be left.

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        About Guatemala
  The Republic of Guatemala, a mountainous country that lies in the Central American isthmus, has an estimated population of 13 million people.
  Guatemala won its independence in 1821, following almost three centuries of Spanish colonial rule.
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