In a blunt rebuke to Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, the country’s Constitutional Court ordered that the head of a UN-backed anti-corruption commission be let back in the country two weeks after Morales barred him as he moved to defang the investigative body.
The unanimous ruling late on Sunday by the court’s five magistrates marked the second time in as many years that the court has reversed Morales’ efforts to keep Ivan Velasquez out of Guatemala.
The commission’s chairman has pressed a number of high-profile graft investigations, including one pending against Morales himself.
There was no immediate public reaction from the Guatemalan president.
His spokesman, Alfredo Brito, did not respond to telephone calls on Sunday night seeking comment.
Morales late last month announced that he would not renew the mandate of the commission for another two-year term, effectively giving it a year to wind down and end its activities.
A few days later, the Guatemalan president said that Velasquez, a Colombian national who was in Washington at the time, would be prohibited from re-entering this Central American nation.
Morales called him “a person who attacks order and public security in the country.”
Morales’ order touched off public protests in support of the body and multiple appeals were promptly filed with the Constitutional Court.
In issuing its decision, the court said its ruling must be obeyed and cannot be appealed.
Morales earlier this month said that he was “not obligated to obey illegal rulings,” which observers interpreted as a clear allusion to the court’s previous checks on his actions.
Last year, Morales had declared Velasquez persona non grata and tried to have him expelled from Guatemala, but that move was blocked by the Constitutional Court.
Among the investigations that the commission, known as CICIG for its initials in Spanish, has brought in Guatemala was one that led to the resignation and jailing of former Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina and his vice president.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was