Guatemala’s prosecutor’s office said Friday that it requested permission from the Supreme Court to start an impeachment process for President Otto Perez Molina over a sprawling corruption case that has held the country in political turmoil for months.
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The president has denied any wrongdoing, but his position is in increasing jeopardy after prosecutors on Thursday also arrested his former vice president over the customs scandal and said they believed the 64-year-old Perez was in on the scam.
Earlier on Friday, former vice president Roxana Baldetti was arrested while she was receiving treatment at a hospital. “We’re disappointed and can not continue in our posts”, de la Torre told a news conference in Guatemala City.
A criminal ring known as “La Linea”, or “The Line”, was allegedly led by Baldetti’s aide, Juan Carlos Monzon Rojas, who is now a fugitive. Authorities introduced a chart diagramming the construction’s alleged group that confirmed Monzon because the mastermind.
“We have found the very regrettable participation of the president of the republic and Mrs. Roxana Baldetti at every level of the organization” behind the corruption, said Ivan Velasquez of the United Nations commission.
A UN investigative commission said it has uncovered extensive evidence implicating Perez in corruption.
Last week, Perez narrowly avoided losing his presidential immunity from prosecution when more than half of Congress voted to revoke it so he could face investigation over the scandals.
Perez’s conservative administration has spent much of this year mired in public protests and scandals over corruption allegations against senior officials, several of whom the retired general fired during a cabinet purge in May.
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With just over two weeks until general elections on September 6, President Perez Molina has refused to resign, according to his spokesman on Saturday. Guatemalans have been taking to the streets around the country demanding Perez Molina’s resignation, justice and systemic change on a weekly basis since April.
