Reducing impunity and other Guatemalan news

IPS has a new article on you know who - The Woman Who Reduced Impunity in Guatemala. The article is pretty good. It covers many of the changes in the attorney general's office and concerns as to what is likely to happen in 2014 when Claudia Paz y Paz leaves her office.

She says she is immersed in the task of institutionalising the changes she has introduced in the public prosecutor’s office, and warns that if her successor is not willing to give continuity to the reforms, the progress made will be reversed.

Garzón said “she has made an enormous effort towards strengthening the institution itself. The question is whether it will be capable of weathering her absence when she’s gone.

“What do the political forces want? To destroy what the public prosecutor’s office has done or to continue along the path that has begun to be followed? It’s a political question, and the outlook is very uncertain,” he said.

Hopefully, Paz y Paz seeks another term. She is undecided but another four years wouldn't hurt. I don't think that Paz y Paz or CICIG are indispensable but I would not be happy about losing Paz y Paz in December 2014 and CICIG in September 2015. How about a referendum on whether each should be retained?

Guatemalan prosecutors plan to present a petition at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington to somehow turn the clock back and reinstate the conviction of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt.

A family torn apart by war in Guatemala is reunited by Facebook. Terrific news.

Finally, looks to improve its security situation by copying Colombia's model. I know murders are not the only way to measure violence but it still seems strange to me that Guatemala's murder rate of 34 per 100,000 is considered considerably worse than Colombia's 31 per 100,000. Guatemala's rate has been closer to that of Colombia for the last several years but because of geography we prefer to lump it together with El Salvador whose murder rate was 71 as of 2011 (a bit over 40 last year) and with Honduras whose rate is approximately 85. And then there's Mexico with 22.