Once again the Guatemalan Congress prevented a criminal investigation against President Jimmy Morales, failing to reach enough votes to withdraw his immunity, since he was accused of corruption by the prosecution and a UN anti-mafia commission.
In a new vote, the legislators reached 70 votes in favor and 42 against and did not reach the 105 necessary to remove the shield from Morales. Last week, in a first attempt, only 25 congressmen were in favor of the president being investigated.
The vote was made a day after thousands of Guatemalans took to the streets in a national strike to demand the resignation of the president, who is singled out for receiving anonymous funds in the right-wing FCN-nation party that got him the presidency two years ago.
The heads of the political factions in the Congress agreed on Tuesday to return to the trial against Morales, under pressure from street protests that, in addition to asking for the president’s departure, demanded a purge of congressmen appointed to perpetuate corruption in an attempt to reform the Criminal Code.
Popular anger at Congress rose after last week’s approval of legal changes to protect political party secretaries from possible allegations of illicit electoral financing, similar to the lawsuit against Morales.
However, the reforms were annulled by the constitutional court and soon by the same congressmen.
After the request to strip him of his diplomatic immunity, Morales plunged the country into a political crisis by trying to expel Iván Velásquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a body attached to the UN.
Velásquez gained the sympathy of several sectors of the population for starting a fight against corruption by uncovering a customs fraud that ended with the government of then-President Otto Pérez (2012-2015), now in prison and waiting that a judge decides whether to face trial.