A special congressional commission on Saturday recommended the removal of Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina's immunity from criminal prosecution due to his alleged involvement in a massive customs fraud case that has brought the administration to the brink of collapse.
Telecom tycoon Mario López Estrada “is the most powerful actor that could have supported [Otto Pérez Molina] at the moment,” Nómada Director Martín Rodríguez tells The Tico Times. “That’s why he refuses to step down and is being so confrontational.” Meanwhile, Guatemalans call for a boycott of Tigo. And the plot thickens...
Even some fast-food restaurants joined in Thursday's nationwide protests held to demand President Otto Pérez Molina's resignation. "All our restaurants will remain closed. We are joining in the change reshaping our country," said a message posted to the Twitter account of McDonald's Guatemala.
GUATEMALA CITY – Former Vice President Roxana Baldetti was formally charged with illicit association, customs fraud and bribery on Tuesday, just days after she was arrested for allegedly helping mastermind a massive customs fraud network known as “La Línea” in tandem with Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina.
GUATEMALA CITY – In a pre-recorded message broadcast to the nation last night, Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina refused to step down in the face of growing evidence of his likely involvement in a massive customs fraud network known as “La Línea.”
"The apprehension of the ex-vice president is confirmed," Julia Barrera, spokeswoman for the Public Prosecutor's Office, told reporters Friday morning. The warrant for Roxana Baldetti's arrest includes charges of illicit association, fraud and bribery.
Latin America has been plagued by corruption for centuries, ever since it emerged from what the Mexican poet Octavio Paz called the “patrimonialist” nature of Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule. What is different today is the response to it, with societies and institutions refusing to remain complicit in corruption, or resigning themselves to its inevitability.
The Constitutional Court rejected President Otto Pérez Molina's appeal for presidential immunity that also sought to legally erase a pre-trial investigation of graft allegations, chief justice Gloria Porras told reporters.
GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina said Thursday the corruption investigation against him is unfounded, and he vowed to fight the possible lifting of his presidential immunity.
