The Court of Guatemala annuls the arrest warrants against Colombian Iván Velásquez, persecuted for his fight against corruption

The Supreme Court of Justice of Guatemala annulled the arrest warrants issued in May of last year against the former head of the defunct International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Iván Velásquez, and Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón, former head of the Investigation and Litigation department and current attorney general of Colombia.

The resolution, released this Monday, revokes the ruling of the Third Court of Appeals that last May had ordered criminal prosecution against both former officials and other former members of the Public Ministry (MP) who led the investigation into the payment of bribes to Guatemalan officials by the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

The resolution of the highest Guatemalan court concluded that the arrest warrants were “illegal”, considering that the Appeals Chamber exceeded its functions. In May of last year, that body had to limit itself to determining whether a first instance judge continued to lead the case initiated by the Public Ministry against Velásquez, Camargo and eight other former anti-corruption prosecutors, but in a surprising way it resolved by issuing arrest warrants against those who were not subject to them and declaring “rebels” those who already had one in force.

The resolution also benefits Thelma Aldana, former attorney general of Guatemala, as well as against the former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), Juan Francisco Sandoval and five other former prosecutors who were investigating a scheme of bribery of Guatemalan deputies by the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to win the construction of million-dollar works. Although they still have current arrest warrants issued by other courts, the Supreme Court’s resolution removes their status as “rebels,” which did not allow them to defend themselves in their trials.

In this regard, Velásquez, who is currently a Colombian diplomat in the Vatican, published on his X account: “Almost a month after the end of the term of the corrupt Attorney General Consuelo Porras, it seems that the situation is beginning to change in Guatemala.”

Juan Francisco Sandoval, former head of the FECI and who led the investigations for which they are now persecuted, said in a telephone interview that the resolution represents hope. “After a long time, it is the first time that they have admitted an appeal. Suddenly it gives the impression that something may change in the Guatemalan justice system,” he said.

Sandoval is one of 13 former prosecutors and more than 100 justice operators, activists and journalists exiled from Guatemala since 2022 due to persecution by the Public Ministry led by Consuelo Porras, the current attorney general. With the arrival of Porras to the Public Ministry, in May 2018, the dismantling of the CICIG was consolidated, an experiment begun in 2007 that sought to combat impunity in crimes such as corruption and crimes against humanity committed in Guatemala. Following the decision of then-president Jimmy Morales not to renew the agency’s mandate in 2019, Porras began to displace and harass prosecutors who had been key in the fight against corruption until forcing them into exile.

Under the Porras administration, progress in emblematic cases of corruption was reversed and the specialized units that supported these investigations were dismantled, systematically weakening the institutional capacity to pursue political-criminal networks and consolidating a climate of persecution against independent justice operators.

Porras has been sanctioned by more than 40 countries, including the United States, and accused of corruption. She was also recently linked to a case of illegal adoptions of minors in the 1980s. Despite this, she is fighting to maintain her immunity and has proposed being re-elected. The president, Bernardo Arévalo, stated this Monday that the official has “no chance” of being elected. “There is hardly a less suitable profile for Attorney General,” he stated.

The outing of batons revives hope for Guatemalan prosecutors in exile. “I hope that a new attorney general reviews all the cases of criminalization against us because it is not possible to continue supporting this,” Sandoval said. “At least I, with all this, have the hope of returning. In a situation like mine, one lives every day with a suitcase ready. Although I would leave with what I have on. I would leave now,” he added.