Guatemalan Supreme Court Approves Impeachment of President

Editado por Ivan Martínez
2015-08-26 12:32:46

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Guatemala City, August 26 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The Guatemalan Supreme Court has approved a request by the country's attorney general to impeach President Otto Perez Molina over his suspected involvement in a corruption scandal known as La Linea.

A spokesperson for the Supreme Court said the matter has now been passed on to Congress to decide if the president's immunity will be lifted.  The Guatemalan Congress previously voted to uphold Perez Molina's immunity, however the scandal has grown even larger with 15 ministers resigning from the cabinet.

The scandal has also seen former Vice President Roxana Baldetti arrested.  Evidence in the case suggests that 50 percent of the alleged bribes were funneled to Baldetti and Perez Molina.

Prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval, head of the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity, said that code-names revealed through wiretaps refer to the president and the former vice president.

Baldetti's trial is currently underway.  President Perez Molina, however, has refused to step down despite mounting pressure and widespread protests demanding he resign.

Perez Molina's refusal to resign has prompted the Social and Popular Assembly, formed in recent months as waves of government corruption scandals have come to light, to call for a new round of protests against the president.
      
The ongoing scandal is also taking place against the backdrop of general elections set to take place September 6th.

Daniel Pascual Hernandez, general secretary of the Committee for Campesino Unity, a member of the Social and Popular Assembly, called for elections to be postponed and electoral reforms to be implemented.  “Under these conditions, the elections will have a high degree of illegitimacy, illegality and impunity,” Pascual told a press conference.

According to the Social and Popular Assembly, many of those parties and candidates contesting the election have run afoul of the law and the country's electoral authority has not gone far enough.
       
The Committee for Campesino Unity is also demanding a the election of constituent assembly which would be tasked with drawing up a new constitution for the country. 


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