Central America
Guatemalan Comptroller’s Office denounces members of TSE for fraud
November 27 |
Guatemala’s Comptroller General’s Office (CGC) filed on Saturday a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) against members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) upon detecting certain irregularities in the purchase of the computer system for the Transmission of Preliminary Electoral Results (TREP).
According to the Comptroller’s Office, the complaint stems from an audit process that showed the need to thoroughly investigate the process of search, purchase and acquisition of computer equipment for the TREP, especially from the overall cost of the process that amounted to 148 million quetzales (US$19,240,000).
“This result stems from findings of poor quality public spending on procured goods and contracted services, derived from poor planning. The CGC has no competence to know or audit the result of the 2023 electoral process, since it is solely the competence of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal”, he assured.
This process is in addition to the complaint filed by the MP against the magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal, Irma Palencia, Ranulfo Rojas, Gabriel Aguilera, Blanca Alfaro, Mynor Franco and the substitutes Álvaro Ricardo Cordón, Marco Antonio Cornejo and Marlon Josué Barahona, for fraud, breach of duties and abuse of authority in the contracting of the computer program.
The computer system was purchased as a result of the pre-trial filed by the Administrative Crimes Prosecutor’s Office against the magistrates of the TSE for alleged irregularities in the acquisition of said system, a process endorsed last November 7 by the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).
This caused the files to be transferred to the Guatemalan Congress, placing them under the scrutiny of the deputies, who would be in charge of the final decision to maintain or withdraw the immunity of the accused magistrates. Currently, the file is in the hands of an Investigative Commission.
Central America
Arévalo calls corruption the “fuel of inequality” and reaffirms commitment to public transparency
Guatemala’s President, Bernardo Arévalo, stated on Friday that corruption is “the food of misery” in his country and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to continuing to strengthen public spending transparency.
During the first anniversary of the National Commission Against Corruption (CNC) established by his administration, the president expressed his satisfaction with the progress made.
“The road has been difficult,” he said, “but I am greatly satisfied with the fight against corruption, which is the fuel of inequality and the food of misery,” the president declared before members of the international community and government officials.
Arévalo also mentioned that the people who elected him in 2023 for a four-year term that began on January 14, 2024, “demand that we combat corruption.”
Central America
Zúñiga hopes CIDH experts can help investigate intellectual authors of Berta Cáceres’ murder
Bertha Zúñiga, daughter of the murdered Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres, expressed her hope on Friday to EFE that the expert group appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) will help investigate the authorship of the crime to “heal the wounds” and rebuild the social fabric in indigenous communities affected by the hydroelectric project her mother opposed.
The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) represents an “effort to exhaust the investigations” into the responsibilities of all individuals involved in Cáceres’ murder, as well as in the “violence suffered” from the implementation of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, led by the company Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA), emphasized Zúñiga.
“We hope that, with the collaboration of the prosecutorial entities, (the experts) will effectively collaborate to move forward on what we have proposed and demanded for many years: formally requiring the intellectual authors of this crime and analyzing the related crimes,” including corruption and other violations, as well as proposing a comprehensive reparation plan for the victims of the hydroelectric project,” Zúñiga explained.
The CIDH appointed a group of four experts from Argentina, Chile, the United States, and Guatemala on Friday to provide technical assistance to Honduras in investigating the intellectual authorship of Cáceres’ murder, which occurred on March 2, 2016, while she was sleeping in her home in La Esperanza, despite the multiple death threats she had reported due to her opposition to the Agua Zarca project.
Central America
Nicaragua’s family confinement program: 7.18% of released prisoners reoffend
Nicaraguan authorities have released a total of 48,964 common prisoners under the family confinement regime over the past ten years, with 7.18% of them reoffending by committing at least one crime, according to the country’s vice president, Rosario Murillo.
Murillo, who is also the wife of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and appointed “co-president” in a reform to the Constitution, stated through official media that “7.18% are individuals who have reoffended in criminal activity from 2015 to today, February 14, 2025.”
This means that 3,515 out of the 48,964 common prisoners with final sentences who have been granted family confinement privileges have returned to criminal activity, according to the report.
The early release of common prisoners has faced criticism, particularly from feminist organizations, who argue that these benefits have contributed to an increase in femicides and general crime in Nicaragua.
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