Vaclav Mašek Sánchez writes in El Faro English about the challenges facing Bernardo Arévalo in seeking to deepen democracy in Guatemala, in a structural sense, through the election of magistrates in the country. Since the removal of the CICIG, many members of the judiciary have had to go into exile fearing for their lives as corrupt political elites (‘Pacto de Corruptos’) have targeted them for challenging the rampant corruption inherent in the system.
If the defense of the election results in 2023 was critical to the survival of democracy in Guatemala, this year will determine the feasibility of structural reform. In May, the Guatemalan Congress will elect magistrates for key courts, including the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) and Appellate Courts (CA) judges. These represent more than 200 crucial posts across the justice system. In Latin America, only Bolivia and Honduras also select CSJ members in one same process, making it a political arm wrestle.
Knowing that anti-corruption change will only be possible by seizing the moment to dismantle the captured judiciary, on March 26, president Bernardo Arévalo made the unprecedented decision of requesting that the OAS send an observation mission to monitor the Supreme Court election. Not only the OAS but the whole international community should closely watch to see if the unexpected democratic turn last year extends beyond the presidency.
Guatemalan Supreme Court magistrates serve five-year terms. In the past two decades, the CSJ election process in Congress has been rife with evidence of influence-trafficking, politicization, and flagrant illegalities — so much so that the magistrates who should have completed their period in 2019 stayed on for four more years, facilitated by Congress repeatedly striking the court election from the agenda. Suddenly, last November, just two months before Arévalo took office, the legislature lurched forward, electing a new court to serve out the remaining year of the term. It appeared that outgoing legislators were trying to pack the Supreme Court with allies before inauguration day.
The appointments last year were made in minutes, without a public technical evaluation of candidates and with allegations of influence peddling again marring the nomination process, this time by ex-president Alejandro Giammattei’s closest political operator, Miguel Martínez. Among the new magistrates were people who had previously been investigated for corruption and undermining democratic processes. Now, political elites and parallel operators again plan to appoint and elect magistrates to secure their interests despite the change in government.
The Arévalo presidency miraculously survived anti-democratic attempts to overturn the August 2023 election even before assuming power, but his government is already hamstrung by a fractured Congress and a Supreme Court that just this month sent the legislature a request to revoke the immunity of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal magistrates who defended his inauguration. To rebuild an autonomous judicial branch, only dismantling the captured judiciary and ensuring that the rule of law is not gratuitous lip service will enable reform. Guaranteeing political rights, civil liberties, accountability mechanisms, affirming the political equality of all citizens, and constraining potential abuses of state power are the only ways to preserve Guatemalan democracy.
You can read the full piece, with links and photos, here, Guatemala Reform Agenda Hinges on Crucial High Court Elections.
Categories: Guatemala, Legal, Human Rights, Justice, Criminalisation, Corruption, Impunity
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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