24 Sep 2019
Over the past decade, Guatemala became an unlikely rule of law success story, with notable achievements in prosecuting corruption and atrocity crimes. Behind this progress lay a unique alliance of domestic prosecutors and judges with the UN’s International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). When CICIG closed its doors early this month, it left behind big questions on the future of the rule of law in Guatemala. With recent presidential and congressional elections and a pending, controversial selection process for high court judges, there is much at play and much at stake for Guatemala’s future accountability efforts.
Will progress on accountability be sustained or eroded in a post-CICIG Guatemala? What are the principal challenges to judicial independence in the country, and what can policymakers inside and outside Guatemala do to protect and strengthen the rule of law?