Demonstrators protest against the incumbent Guatemalan president Morales in Guatemala City, Guatemala, 20 September 2017. Morales has been accused of illegally financing his campaigns. The protestors also took aim at widely perceived corruption. Photo: Jesús Alfonso/DPA/PA Images. All rights reserved.
Carlos Fuentes was in Guatemala in 2001, invited by UNICEF, for the ceremony of its communication awards. On that occasion, he said that corruption was the most evil form of stealing from the poor. He is right. The more so if this crime is being committed in a country with a large proportion of poor people - 59% of the population, a figure that rises to 76% in the rural areas - and where 49% of the children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
In recent days, Guatemala has experienced massive social protests over allegations of corruption against President Jimmy Morales and the connivance of 107 members of Parliament who passed a law protecting the corrupt.
