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| Guatemala president's order to expel head of UN unit suspended | Guatemala president's order to expel head of UN unit suspended |
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| Guatemala’s constitutional court on Sunday suspended an order by President Jimmy Morales to expel the head of an influential UN unit investigating campaign financing, setting the stage for political instability in the Central American nation. | Guatemala’s constitutional court on Sunday suspended an order by President Jimmy Morales to expel the head of an influential UN unit investigating campaign financing, setting the stage for political instability in the Central American nation. |
| The court also said the foreign, defense and interior ministers should not participate in removing from the country Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). | The court also said the foreign, defense and interior ministers should not participate in removing from the country Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). |
| Speaking in a video published on his Facebook account earlier on Sunday, Morales had said that Velasquez must leave national territory with immediate effect. | Speaking in a video published on his Facebook account earlier on Sunday, Morales had said that Velasquez must leave national territory with immediate effect. |
| An innovative UN body with powers to investigate crime and corruption, CICIG was instrumental in removing Guatemala’s former president from office in 2015 after identifying him as a key player in an alleged multimillion-dollar corruption racket. | An innovative UN body with powers to investigate crime and corruption, CICIG was instrumental in removing Guatemala’s former president from office in 2015 after identifying him as a key player in an alleged multimillion-dollar corruption racket. |
| Morales took office in 2016, winning the election on an anti-corruption ticket after his predecessor was brought down. | Morales took office in 2016, winning the election on an anti-corruption ticket after his predecessor was brought down. |
| Morales’s declaration that Velasquez was persona non grata came days after the CICIG said the president should be investigated over alleged illicit funding during his election campaign. | Morales’s declaration that Velasquez was persona non grata came days after the CICIG said the president should be investigated over alleged illicit funding during his election campaign. |
| Many politicians in Guatemala consider the body to be a violation of national sovereignty, while anti-corruption activists credit it with cleaning up government. | Many politicians in Guatemala consider the body to be a violation of national sovereignty, while anti-corruption activists credit it with cleaning up government. |
| Protesters gathered on Sunday outside CICIG’s offices and the court in support of Velasquez, a veteran prosecutor who has previously investigated drug cartels and paramilitary groups in his home country, Colombia. | Protesters gathered on Sunday outside CICIG’s offices and the court in support of Velasquez, a veteran prosecutor who has previously investigated drug cartels and paramilitary groups in his home country, Colombia. |
| The Guatemalan foreign minister, Carlos Raul Morales, left the government on Sunday, according to the ministry’s Twitter account. The circumstances of his departure were not immediately clear, but the former minister, who is not related to the president, said on Friday he would resign if Velasquez was forced out. | The Guatemalan foreign minister, Carlos Raul Morales, left the government on Sunday, according to the ministry’s Twitter account. The circumstances of his departure were not immediately clear, but the former minister, who is not related to the president, said on Friday he would resign if Velasquez was forced out. |
| The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said he was “shocked” by Morales’s move and called on Guatemalan authorities to treat Velasquez with respect. | The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said he was “shocked” by Morales’s move and called on Guatemalan authorities to treat Velasquez with respect. |
| Eliot Engel, a member of the US House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, said he was “extremely disappointed” by the decision to expel Velasquez and called on the state department and Congress to examine the future of US assistance to the Guatemalan government. | |
| “CICIG has played a transformational role in combating corruption and impunity in Guatemala,” Engel said in a statement. | “CICIG has played a transformational role in combating corruption and impunity in Guatemala,” Engel said in a statement. |