Guatemala City, September 4 (RHC)-- In Guatemala, the runner-up in last month’s presidential election, Sandra Torres, has been arrested at her home in Guatemala City.  According to Guatemala’s attorney general, Torres is suspected of breaking campaign finance rules and unlawful association in the 2015 elections, the year Torres lost the presidential bid to outgoing President Jimmy Morales.

Sandra Torres lost recent elections in Guatemala to right-wing leader Alejandro Giammattei, who will be inaugurated in January next year.

The former first lady’s political career has been plagued by allegations of corruption and ties to criminal organizations.  Her arrest came on the eve of Guatemala’s U.N.-backed anti-corruption commission CICIG’s formal expulsion from the country.  CICIG had led the investigation against Torres. CICIG issued a final report describing the country as being “captured” by corruption at the hands of a “mafia coalition” involving politicians, the business community and wealthy elite that is “willing to sacrifice Guatemala’s present and future to guarantee impunity and preserve the status quo.”