“Jimmy, step down.” Image: Josue_Decavele/DPA/PA Images. All rights reserved
While all eyes are fixed on the political and economic crisis in Venezuela, a slow-motion coup is unfolding largely unnoticed in Guatemala. President Jimmy Morales, members of Congress, certain business people and powerful military officers are taking swift, dramatic steps to consolidate power before the presidential elections in June. Morales is not eligible for re-election and so once his successor takes power he will lose his immunity from possible prosecution for corruption.
For years Guatemala has been a source of inspiration to the international human rights community – an example of how dedicated human rights activists can build justice even upon the ruins of war and mass atrocities. The past ten years have seen a former dictator found guilty of genocide; high-ranking military officials sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their roles in mass atrocities; and indigenous women winning cases against members of the military who sexually enslaved them and robbed them of their land.
