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A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 14 december 2019

Critics say Guatemala commission undermining anti-graft push

By SONIA PÉREZ D. people who say they were
Associated Press victimized by Cicig and
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — about 40 are expected
One by one, witnesses sat in to appear before it wraps
the elegant wooden chair up. He defended the com-
in Guatemala’s Congress mission, saying its mission is
in recent weeks to air their for “the truth to be known
grievances against the about what Cicig did.”
U.N.-sponsored anti-graft But Iván Velásquez, a Co-
commission that over the lombian lawyer who led
course of 12 years helped Cicig for years, argued
bring to justice hundreds that the body violates the
of politicians, businesspeo- principle of separation of
ple, judges and others ac- powers and “constitutes
cused of corruption. an illegal interference by
They have included rela- the legislative branch” into
tives of a suspect com- independent entities.
plaining about a preven- “The ultimate goal of the
tive prison order, even commission ... is to disrupt
though he has been a the (legal) cases that are
fugitive from justice for under way,” Velásquez
six years, and allies of a said. U.N. deputy spokes-
man convicted of crimes man Farhan Haq said
against humanity during Guatemalan congressman Juan Ramon Lau, answers questions from journalists before starting a Secretary-General An-
Guatemala’s bloody 1960- session of Congress in Guatemala City, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. tonio Guterres believes
1996 civil war, a case in Associated Press Cicig “made a decisive
which the U.N. commission, contribution to strengthen
known as Cicig for its initials Molina, who remains be- possible backlash against prosecutions even as many the rule of law as well as
in Spanish, was not even in- hind bars. But after its in- those who carried out the of Cicig’s most high-profile strengthen investigation
volved. vestigations touched the corruption investigations, investigations are set to see and prosecution capaci-
Cicig won plaudits at inner circle of current Presi- and those worries appear trial in 2020. And they fear ties in Guatemala over its
home and abroad for its dent Jimmy Morales and to have been born out in it could be used to bring 12 years of operation.”
work, hand-in-hand with the president himself, he the congressional Truth charges against investiga- He added that Guterres
Guatemalan prosecutors, shut the commission down Commission launched tors, judges and prosecu- thanked Cicig workers for
to bring corruption cases and it ceased functioning days later, tasked with tors whose efforts put the “their professionalism and
against hundreds of the Sept. 3, when its mandate compiling a report on bigwigs behind bars. commitment to assist in the
country’s powerful and ran out without being re- Cicig’s activities. Critics say Juan Ramón Lau, the con- cause of justice. He also
privileged, including two newed. it seeks to discredit and un- gressman presiding over trusts that efforts to fight
ex-presidents and then- Human rights groups dermine the commission’s the commission, said it has impunity will continue” in
sitting President Otto Pérez warned at the time of a work and derail ongoing heard from more than 20 Guatemala.q

Vale-commissioned report says no warning before dam collapse

By DIANE JEANTET and contaminated near- previously worked for Vale
Associated Press by rivers. or on any matter relating
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A It prompted a wave of crit- to the dam, though critics
company-commissioned icism of the mining com- questioned its objectivity.
study released Thursday pany and of industry regu- Cannelle Lavite, a legal
on a deadly dam break in lators. adviser at the European
Brazil found that none of A report released by con- Center for Constitutional
the structure’s monitoring gressional investigators in and Human Rights in Ger-
systems gave warning of October recommended many, said some of the
the collapse that killed at charges against the com- Vale report’s findings con-
least 257 people — though pany and several senior tradicted previous investi-
other experts have said executives, and the case gations. She had been part
the disaster could have remains under investiga- of a separate investigation
been prevented. tion by prosecutors. into the role of a German
The report released by the The authors of the 81-page company that had certi-
mining giant Vale said that Vale-commissioned study fied the dam’s safety.
“none of the monitoring also concluded that dam The Vale-commissioned In this Jan. 28, 2019 file photo, firefighters watch the body
devices detected precur- collapses are “rarely due report states that there of a person they pulled from the mud, as it is lifted up and
sors to failure” ahead of to one cause” and listed were no “apparent signs taken away by a helicopter days after a dam collapse in
the Jan. 25 disaster in the several contributing fac- of distress prior to failure,” Brumadinho, Brazil.
city of Brumadinho. tors, from design and con- a crucial point about the Associated Press
The collapse killed at least struction of the structure, possible responsibility of year prior to the failure had also found that prior
257 people, with 13 people to water management is- the firm. and in the few days before signs of possible failures
still missing. It unleashed sues and intense rainfall. “That is in contradiction as well,” said Lavite, who had appeared. “It is clear
a torrent of thick reddish- The report states that none with Brazilian prosecutors traveled to the mining site they don’t want to ac-
brown mud that destroyed of the four experts that co- who found very serious is- in Brumadinho. She said knowledge any warning
houses, roads and trees authored the study had sues of drainage in the parliamentary inquiries signs,” she said.q