Updated: Guatemala's Congress Votes 132-0 to Remove Immunity From Their President, Who Resigns Facing Arrest

Posted September 2, 2015 9:24 PM ET; Last updated September 3, 2015 9:11 PM ET



Even if the United Nations investigated the White House today, there is no will in the Congress to prosecute the President of the US. They fear being called racists, haters. No spines among elected officials. Is that why Donald Trump is popular? 

[From article]
Guatemalan President Otto Perez on Thursday said he was resigning, after Congress stripped him of immunity over corruption allegations and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
The embattled conservative leader, in power since 2012, took the decision to step down to confront "individually the proceedings against him," his spokesman Jorge Ortega said, hours after the arrest warrant was issued.
A judge issued the arrest warrant Wednesday for Mr Perez, who faces prosecution for allegedly masterminding a huge fraud scheme.
[. . .]
Under Guatemalan law, Mr Perez will be automatically removed from office if remanded in custody by a criminal court.
Guatemala's attorney general also said Wednesday she is confident embattled Mr Perez will be convicted of corruption, as the country's top court rejected his challenge to prosecutors' moves to try him.
[. . .]
Mr Perez is the first president in the Central American country's history to be stripped of his immunity, a decision that caused exasperated Guatemalans to burst into celebration Tuesday night after months of unprecedented protests.
A judge subsequently barred the 64-year-old retired general from leaving the country.
[. . .]
The scandal, which has already felled his former vice president and a string of top officials, comes as Guatemala prepares for elections Sunday to choose his successor.
Mr Perez, in power since 2012, is constitutionally barred from running for re-election. His term ends on January 14.
The president has been left increasingly isolated by the scandal.
Six of his 14 ministers have resigned in recent days, along with several other top officials.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/679644/arrest-warrant-issued-for-guatemala-president

Guatemalan president facing arrest resigns
3 Sep 2015 at 14:53
AFP
* * *

[From article]
Guatemala’s Congress voted on Tuesday to strip President Otto Pérez Molina of his immunity from prosecution, a unanimous decision that acknowledged the outpouring of citizen demands for an end to entrenched impunity.
The 132-0 vote was the culmination of a tumultuous five months since prosecutors revealed the existence of a customs fraud ring in April, describing how officials received bribes in exchange for discounted tariffs, a scheme that effectively stole millions from the treasury.
[. . .]
The case ignited a flood of protest from ordinary Guatemalans, who began staging weekly protests in Guatemala City’s central plaza, demanding the president’s resignation, although he had yet to be linked directly to the scheme.
But it was not until Aug. 21, when prosecutors announced that their evidence pointed to Mr. Pérez Molina as one of the scheme’s ringleaders, that Guatemala’s elite joined the calls for Mr. Pérez Molina to step down.
[. . .]
But removing the president’s immunity has enormous symbolism in a country long divided by class and race and where impunity for the powerful was the rule in a system fueled by corruption.
“It sends a very powerful message both to Guatemalans and to other countries in the region,”
[. . .]
The case against Mr. Pérez Molina, which forced the resignation of his vice president, Roxana Baldetti, in May, was brought by a United Nations-backed commission of independent prosecutors that has been working alongside the Guatemalan attorney general’s office for almost a decade. The commission has brought down a series of corrupt officials, developing complex cases using wiretaps and other evidence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/world/americas/guatemala-votes-to-strip-its-president-of-immunity.html

President Otto Pérez Molina Is Stripped of Immunity in Guatemala
By ELISABETH MALKIN and AZAM AHMED

SEPT. 1, 2015

Religious Jews Chased From Guatemala, After Leaving Canada

Lev Tahor means 'Pure Heart' in Hebrew and the group practices an austere form of Judaism

[From article]
A community of Orthodox Jews have been expelled from their homes in a bitter conflict with hostile villagers.
Just a few months after fleeing from Canada amid allegations of child abuse, members of the Lev Tahor community were forced to leave San Juan La Laguna in Guatemala yesterday.
The village Elder's Council voted to kick them out because the group refused to greet or have physical contact with the community, according to a member of the council.

[. . .] Lev Tahor is a radical strain of Hassidic Judaism that believes television and computers are bad and must be avoided.
The group rejects the state of Israel because it views the Jews as a people who must remain in exile.
Verbal abuse, threats to cut off power and eject them by force were the last straw for the Jews, some of whom have been there for six years.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2738455/Ultra-Orthodox-Jews-moved-Canada-Guatamalan-village-religious-freedom-force-leave-locals-don-t-like-them.html

Ultra-Orthodox Jews who moved from Canada to Guatemalan village to find 'religious freedom' are forced to leave because the locals don't like them
Members of the Lev Tahor sect forced to flee from Guatemalan village
Left Canada in March amid allegations of child abuse and forced marriages
Elders at the San Juan La Laguna council voted to kick them out
More than 230 people were expelled from their homes yesterday
Radical strain of Hassidic Judaism was founded in 1980 by Rabbi Helbrans
By JENNY AWFORD FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:41 EST, 30 August 2014 | UPDATED: 09:46 EST, 30 August 2014

Body Found In Massachusetts Was Used To Carry Drugs, Friend Arrested

Although the box had been left by the roadside for several days, it was only noticed when nearby homeowners noticed a revolting smell

[From article]
A man whose body was found in a cardboard box by the roadside was sliced open across his abdomen because he was carrying drugs inside of him.
Jose Milthon Freddy Azurdia-Montenegro, 55, of Guatemala, has now been charged with one count of misleading a police investigation.
The man who was found by the roadside outside a home in Duxbury, Massachusettes, was Estuardo Leonel Melgar Perez, 34, also of Guatemala and he was smuggling drugs that were those of a so-called drug mule.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2716052/Mans-body-cut-open-drugs-stuffed-box-road-spotted-neighbors-noticed-smell.html

Guatemalan man's body was cut open to get drugs he was carrying inside him before being stuffed in a box by the side of a Massachusetts road
Box was found by roadside in Duxbury, Massachusetts last week containing body of Guatemalan mam
Medical examiner found the body was slashed across the abdomen to retrieve drugs that were hidden within
Jose Milthon Azurdia-Montenegro, 55, knew Estuardo Leonel Melgar Perez, 34 who was in the box
He has now been charged with misleading an investigation and has had his passport revoked
By JAMES GORDON
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 16:25 EST, 4 August 2014 | UPDATED: 16:48 EST, 4 August 2014

Not Just Central Americans Invade U.S. Through Southern Border

[From article]
Texas Governor Rick Perry said a record number of illegal immigrants from Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Sunday's State of the Union on CNN, Perry said the "historic record highs" of individuals from "countries that have substantial terrorist ties" threaten America's national security.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/03/Rick-Perry-Record-Number-of-Illegals-from-Syria-Pakistan-Afghanistan-Being-Caught-at-Border

RICK PERRY: RECORD NUMBER OF ILLEGALS FROM SYRIA, PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN BEING CAUGHT AT BORDER
by TONY LEE
3 Aug 2014

* * *

[From article]
The report reveals the apprehension numbers ranging from 2010 through July 2014. It shows that most of the human smuggling from Syria and Albania into the U.S. comes through Central America. The report also indicates the routes individuals from North Africa and the Middle East take into the European Union, either to illegally migrate there or as a possible stop in their journey to the United States. The data are broken down further into the specific U.S. border sectors where the apprehensions and contact occurred.
Among the significant revelations are that individuals from nations currently suffering from the world’s largest Ebola outbreak have been caught attempting to sneak across the porous U.S. border into the interior of the United States. At least 71 individuals from the three nations affected by the current Ebola outbreak have either turned themselves in or been caught attempting to illegally enter the U.S. by U.S. authorities between January 2014 and July 2014.
As of July 20, 2014, 1,443 individuals from China were caught sneaking across the porous U.S. border this year alone,
[. . .]
Twenty-eight individuals from Pakistan were caught attempting to sneak into the U.S. this year alone, with another 211 individuals either turning themselves in or being caught at official ports of entry.
Thirteen Egyptians were caught trying to sneak into the U.S. this year alone, with another 168 either turning themselves in or being caught at official ports of entry.
Four individuals from Yemen were caught attempting to sneak into the U.S. by Border Patrol agents in 2014 alone,

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/03/Leaked-CBP-Report-Shows-Entire-World-Exploiting-Open-US-Border

LEAKED CBP REPORT SHOWS ENTIRE WORLD EXPLOITING OPEN US BORDER
by BRANDON DARBY
3 Aug 2014

Chelsea MA Sees Increased Immigrants From Central America

[From article]
Tens of thousands of children have come across the border on their own in the past year. Many of them are now finding their way to communities around Boston.
Chelsea is ground zero for this wave of children, many undocumented immigrants, coming from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

[. . .]

Bourque has had to hire extra teachers as well as expand tutoring and mental health programs. They are running low on space in school buildings.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/06/24/chelsea-schools-overwhelmed-with-sudden-influx-of-illegal-immigrants/

Chelsea Schools Overwhelmed By Sudden Influx Of Immigrant Students

By Lauren Leamanczyk, WBZ-TV



June 24, 2014 6:12 PM

Central American Media Encourages Youth To Migrate to U.S.

[From article]
Instead of discouraging the wave of illegal child immigrants headed toward the U.S. border, major media outlets in Central America are encouraging the phenomenon in recent news coverage

http://www.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/craig-bannister/central-american-media-promote-illegal-child-immigrant-tsunami-give-tips

Central American Media Promote Illegal Child Immigrant Tsunami, Give Tips
June 18, 2014 - 10:24 AM

By Craig Bannister

Central American Propaganda Promotes Immigration To U.S.

[From article]
Lawmakers in Washington have argued in recent weeks over what’s causing the surge in child migration. Republicans say the deferred action program, which allows young undocumented immigrants to live and work in the U.S., is tempting more people to cross illegally. Democrats say it’s crushing poverty and violence in Latin America.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, for his part, recognized both factors. He pleaded for U.S. authorities to recognize the plight of migrants.

http://fusion.net/justice/story/honduran-president-kids-us-misinformation-774719

Honduran President: Kids Come to the U.S. Because of ‘Misinformation’

by TED HESSON @tedhesson
Posted 06/13/2014, 05:14PM
Updated 06/13/2014, 05:19PM

* * *

[From article]
But the newspapers and television stations throughout Central America are falsely reporting that amnesty will be theirs if they can just make it through the Mexican obstacle course — and that the time to do it is now.
It doesn't matter that these children are likely to succumb to desert heat, be snatched by vicious human traffickers, forced into prostitution, slavery or the drug trade, or simply murdered as has already happened to thousands, as the white crosses at the border can attest.
Not since the radio broadcasts that triggered Rwanda's Tutsi massacres in 1994 has such false information been spread unchecked by authorities who might be able with just their words to make a difference.
[. . .]
the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, after 50,000 apprehensions of border crossers in south Texas, declared this week that "certainly we are not gullible enough to believe that thousands of unaccompanied minor Central American children came to America without the encouragement, aid and assistance of the United States government."
[. . .]
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a foe of illegal immigration, stated that based on evidence he'd seen and conversations he had with lawmen, there appeared to be an ongoing political campaign to destroy law enforcement at the border — something the former border agents called an effort to create "a failed state" on the border. If so, it's a page straight out of the Cloward-Piven theory President Obama was so influenced by as a community organizer and at Columbia.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/061314-704725-texas-border-immigration-wave-may-well-be-orchestrated.htm?ref=mp

An Orchestrated Immigration Wave At The Texas Border? Not So Paranoid To Think So
Editorial
Posted 06/13/2014 06:47 PM ET

What's Motivating Flood of Illegal Immigrants To Southern Border

[From article]
[T]he president of the Border Patrol union for Tucson, which is processing many of the children and families flooding across the border, said the agents tell him the surge was caused by rumors of an impending amnesty reaching back to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
“We talk to these individuals — the agents ask what made you do it. The general answer that we’re getting from a lot of these individuals is, we heard there was going to be an amnesty,” said Art Del Cueto, president of Local 2544.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/06/camp-of-the-saints-revisited.php

POSTED ON JUNE 10, 2014 

BY SCOTT JOHNSON
CAMP OF THE SAINTS REVISITED

Lawyer Murdered in Guatemala

I read this story just after reading one in New York magazine about Alex Jones. Jones was disparaged as the leader of conspiracists. But the story about reality in Guatemala makes Jones seem like a normal human being. Reality is more bizarre than fiction. I see many parallels with groups in the US, operating as they do in Guatemala.

[From article]
"Criminal networks have infiltrated virtually every government and law-enforcement agency, and more than half the country is no longer believed to be under the control of any government at all.
[. . .]
Incredibly, the death rate in Guatemala is now higher than it was for much of the civil war. And there is almost absolute impunity: ninety-seven per cent of homicides remain unsolved, the killers free to kill again. In 2007, a U.N. official declared, “Guatemala is a good place to commit a murder, because you will almost certainly get away with it.”
[. . .]
In 2007, Colom, representing a social-democratic coalition, won the Presidency—the first time in five decades that a left-of-center leader had ruled Guatemala. The election was one of the bloodiest in the country’s history: more than fifty local candidates and party activists were murdered, and Colom’s campaign manager was nearly killed by three grenades thrown at his motorcade.
[. . .]
Since Colom took power, two of his interior ministers have been indicted for corruption (a third died in a mysterious helicopter crash), and four consecutive heads of the national police have been dismissed, indicted, or jailed for alleged malfeasance.
[. . .]
In the nineteen-fifties, the C.I.A. had contemplated an assassination campaign against left-wing Guatemalan targets and disseminated a treatise on the art of political murder: “The subject may be stunned or drugged and then placed in the car, but this is only reliable when the car can be run off a high cliff or into deep water without observation.”
[. . .]
Castresana realized that he could not bring criminals to justice before he had removed at least some of the most corrupt officials.
[. . .]
Castresana seized upon a rule in CICIG’S charter that permitted the organization to petition local officials to punish unethical officials. Through this process, his team began to remove more than fifteen hundred corrupt police officers, including fifty police commissioners and the deputy director of the national police. CICIG also “invited” nearly a dozen prominent prosecutors to leave their posts,
[. . .]
Anita Isaacs, a political scientist and an expert on Guatemala, who knows Castresana, told me that the networks traditionally relied on three ways to remove an enemy: “The first is to bribe you—but they could not bribe Castresana. The second is to kill you—but they could not kill Castresana. Finally, if all else fails, they destroy your reputation. And that is what they did to Castresana.”
[. . .]
At a press conference announcing his decision, Castresana, in a final salvo, denounced Colom’s new Attorney General for alleged ties to “parallel powers,” including organized crime.
[. . .]
He said of the attacks on his reputation, “They have hurt my image forever.”
[. . .]
The proliferation of counterfeit realities underscored the difficulty of ascertaining the truth in a country where there are so few arbiters of it.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/04/110404fa_fact_grann?currentPage=1

A Murder Foretold
Unravelling the ultimate political conspiracy.
by David Grann
New Yorker
April 4, 2011

Corruption is Ubiquitous


The illegal drug industry cannot exist in a country without the assistance of corrupt public officials. In the USA voters elect corrupt officials because they want corruption. Perhaps the voters in Guatemala share American's fondness for corruption.

http://u.tv/News/Guatemala-in-uproar-after-lawyer-predicts-own-murder/96906d7e-4faa-45ee-83a0-f7ba5836e707

or

http://tinyurl.com/pdz5gr

Guatemala in uproar after lawyer predicts own murder
Rodrigo Rosenberg shot two days after recording YouTube video at friend's offices in Guatemala City
U.TV news
Sunday, 17 May 2009