Corruption runs rampant in Guatemala – and the destruction of human rights is on its path. Recent years under Guatemala’s last two presidents, Jimmy Morales (2016-20) and incumbent president Alejandro Giammattei, have seen corruption rise to unprecedented levels. This rise has recently been met with protest. On August 11th, Guatemalans from various areas of the capital marched from the city’s only public university. Their demands include the ousting of corrupt officials from the unpopular government, a lower cost of living, and the protection of freedom of expression. But even with a rise in such protests, it is unclear that enough is being done to safeguard human rights and the rule of law. In fact, the recent history of corruption in Guatemala tells us otherwise. International pressure is needed to put a stop to out of control democratic erosion and democratic backsliding in Guatemala.
For much of its recent history, Guatemala lived with a popular anti-corruption movement. The United Nations established the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) in 2006, which was to assist the country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office. The international body carried out over 100 corruption cases against 660 Guatemalan elites until its termination in 2019 under the Morales administration. Morales, who was himself under investigation by the CICIG, began a pro-impunity campaign in 2017 in an effort to consolidate power for himself and his allies. The Morales administration passed impunity laws, censored and dismantled dissident media and businesses, and censured opposing officials and social leaders. The administration announced that it would not renew CICIG following its mandate’s expiration in 2019. Though the Constitutional Court ruled that this decision was illegal, Morales ignored the ruling, terminating the CICIG in spite of it.
The end of Morales’ tenure as president did not mark an end for corruption however. The Giammattei administration has only continued the trend. On September 1st, Virginia Laparra, a senior anti-corruption prosecutor and one of the last vestiges of the anti-corruption movement, was arrested. Laparra was accused of abuse of authority and sent to high-security prisons for over 6 months, with no trial date in sight. Laparra is not the only individual to be unlawfully imprisoned however. Several prosecutors associated with the CICIG have met a similar fate, along with journalists who are critical of the administration. José Ruben Zamora Marroquín, editor for the newspaper El Periodico, was arrested on July 29th under allegations of money laundering and blackmail. The extent of the corruption goes even further, with numerous allegations of bribery and plots to stack the court surfacing as of late.
Both the Morales and Giammattei administrations have thus overseen a rapid increase in democratic backsliding. Democratic backsliding can be defined as the processes by which a state debilitates democracy-sustaining institutions. One aspect of backsliding demonstrated by Morales and Giammattei is executive aggrandizement, or, the weakening of checks on executive power one by one. The Morales administration saw the termination of the CICIG and the establishment of impunity laws, thus making themselves unaccountable. The judiciary was thus severely weakened, as corrupt individuals could no longer be prosecuted. Further, in terminating the CICIG, the Morales administration openly defied a ruling by the constitutional court. Morales thus de-legitimized the authority of the judiciary, placing executive power above the authority of the courts. Both Morales and Giammattei have similarly weakened bureaucratic restraints on the executive by stacking the legislature with allies. Morales and Giammattei have thus both contributed to a worrying increase in executive power.
In addition, Giammatei has especially utilized the mechanisms of stealth authoritarianism to further democratic erosion. Scholar Ozan Varol defines stealth authoritarianism as the use of legal mechanisms to perpetuate authoritarian power. Because they operate through our legal institutions, the repressive practices used by authoritarians become “stealthy”. Giammatei has stacked courts with allies, thus giving him free access to the country’s legal mechanisms. Giammattei has therefore used the courts to jail dissident journalists and political enemies. What is notable is the use of non-political crimes, as seen in Jose Ruben Zamora’s case. Zamora was charged with money laundering rather than a specifically political crime, allowing for the prosecution to seem like an application of the rule of law. Giammatei is thus able to portray such actions as legitimate, keeping his oppression out of the eyes of the international community. It is for that reason that democratic erosion in Guatemala appears in a particularly insidious form.
Finally, both Morales and Giammattei have utilized strategic election manipulation, another form of democratic backsliding. Strategic election manipulation can be defined as a broad range of actions that tilt the electoral playing field so to speak. The Morales and Giammattei administrations attacks on the media, and their jailing of political dissidents, have put blockades in the way of free and fair elections. Voters are unable to access full information if investigations into the incumbent administration are met with arrests. And opposing candidates cannot gain a foothold if the incumbent president cannot be held accountable. In many ways then, Morales and Giammattei have made the executive immune to the power of institutions and the citizenry.
The recent history of Guatemala shows us that democratic erosion has skyrocketed. And the use of the tactics of stealth authoritarianism and democratic backsliding have made executive power worryingly unaccountable. If we want to defeat corruption in Guatemala then, more than protest is needed. If international bodies do not apply more pressure, Guatemala is headed for disaster.