GUATEMALA CITY — The president of Guatemala pushed the nation toward a constitutional crisis on Monday, ignoring an explicit order by the country’s top court while testing the bounds of the nation’s fragile democracy.

The court had ordered that the head of a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission be allowed back into Guatemala, reversing orders from President Jimmy Morales.

But the government stood its ground on Monday, saying it would not allow the head of the commission, Iván Velásquez, a Colombian citizen, to return. Instead the government said the United Nations, which appointed Mr. Velásquez to oversee the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, should pick someone else to head the mission.

The announcement not only defied the constitutional court’s unanimous ruling late Sunday, but it was also a challenge to United Nations Secretary General António Guterres. In a rebuke to the Guatemalan government, Mr. Guterres had said at the beginning of the month that Mr. Velásquez would remain at the head of the panel even though he was barred from the country.</s>Guatemala's Constitutional Court orders President Jimmy Morales to allow head of UN anti-graft body to re-enter country

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's Constitutional Court orders President Jimmy Morales to allow head of UN anti-graft body to re-enter country.</s>GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's Constitutional Court orders President Jimmy Morales to allow head of UN anti-graft body to re-enter country.</s>GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala’s Constitutional Court orders President Jimmy Morales to allow head of UN anti-graft body to re-enter country.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>GUATEMALA CITY — The president of Guatemala pushed the nation toward a constitutional crisis Monday, ignoring an explicit order by the country’s top court while testing the bounds of the nation’s fragile democracy.

The court had ordered that the head of a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission be allowed back into Guatemala, reversing orders from President Jimmy Morales.

But the government stood its ground Monday, saying it would not allow the head of the commission, Iván Velásquez, a Colombian citizen, to return. Instead the government said the United Nations, which appointed Velásquez to oversee the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, should pick someone else to head the mission.

The announcement not only defied the constitutional court’s unanimous ruling late Sunday, but it was also a challenge to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. In a rebuke to the Guatemalan government, Guterres had said at the beginning of the month that Velásquez would remain at the head of the panel even though he was barred from the country.

At the root of the crisis are a series of corruption investigations by the commission that have rocked the core of Guatemala’s power structure, sending politicians, businessmen and even former presidents to jail.

The commission’s investigations were once helpful to Morales: They helped unearth wrongdoing by his predecessor and contributed to Morales’ surprising victory in 2015. But when an inquiry into illegal campaign financing focused on Morales directly, he made Velásquez persona non-grata and vowed to shut down the commission.

The fracas Monday was the culmination of more than a year of conflict between Velasquez and Morales. At first Morales, whose brother and son are both awaiting trial on corruption charges brought by the commission, tried to expel Velásquez from the country. But the constitutional court, the nation’s top judicial body, deemed the move illegal.

For a while, the matter appeared to be resolved. But Morales said on Aug. 31 that he would not renew the commission’s mandate. Four days later, the government also barred Vélasquez, who has been the head of the commission since 2013, from returning to the country.

To most legal experts, that violated the spirit of the earlier decision. And indeed, when the court took it up again Sunday night, it unanimously ruled that any attempt to block the entry of the panel’s commissioner into the country was illegal.

But because the ruling did not mention Velasquez by name, the government decided to impose its own interpretation. The Interior Minister, Enrique Degenhart, was categorical Monday, declaring, “It is important to set the condition that the Colombian citizen Ivan Velasquez Gomez, will not enter” Guatemala.

Instead, Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel said Guatemala had asked Guterres to come up with a list of acceptable replacement candidates within 48 hours.

Polls show that the commission enjoys widespread support among Guatemalans. As if to underscore the effectiveness of the panel, which works alongside Guatemala’s attorney general to build corruption cases, the commission announced arrests in two corruption cases last week, including one involving a former mayor of Quetzaltenango, one of the country’s largest cities.

The government’s campaign against Velasquez — to the extent of defying the court — has set off alarms.

“If they resist obeying the court, then we are talking about a technical coup,” said Karin Slowing, an independent analyst and columnist for the newspaper Prensa Libre. “We are talking about a rupture that can take us in any direction.”

If congress, which is largely hostile to the commission, supports the government’s defiance of the court, “the country’s institutions will break,” Slowing said.

The last time a president openly defied the constitutional court was in the 1990s, and the conflict was only resolved when the army stepped in on behalf of the judiciary to enforce its decree.

It is unclear what will happen this time. Morales is supported by a powerful cadre of former military officers, but the United States’ support for the commission, which was unqualified last year, has waned in recent months.

At the same time, public pressure has been a deciding factor on this issue within Guatemala. In 2015, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets to decry corruption, and the president at the time, Otto Pérez Molina, was forced to step down and face charges brought by Velásquez.

Morales appears determined to avoid his predecessor’s fate, and he has shown a willingness to push the nation to the brink to do so.

Last week, protests against Morales swelled in the countryside, but were more modest in the capital, where the government deployed police officers and soldiers to control the crowds.

Slowing said that one reason for the more muted response in the capital was because the private sector, which ultimately supported the protests in 2015, has largely backed the government against the commission this time.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Azam Ahmed and Elisabeth Malkin © 2018 The New York Times</s>Guatemala will not allow the head of the the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG, to return to the country, defying an order by the constitutional court.



 Late Sunday, the country’s top court ruled that President Jimmy Morales must let Ivan Velasquez back into the country.

Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart announced Monday that Morales’ administration would defy the court order. Instead, Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel said she had asked the United Nations to send a list of possible replacements for Velasquez for Guatemala’s approval.



 Morales came under international condemnation when he announced in late August that he was closing the CICIG and barring Velasquez from the country.

Velasquez had conducted a number of high-profile corruption investigations, include one pending against the president.

Morales said Velasquez is “a person who attacks order and public security in the country.”</s>GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan government officials say they will defy a ruling by the country's top court and block the return of the man leading a U.N.-backed anti-corruption commission.

Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart says that commission chief Ivan Velasquez of Colombia won't be allowed to return to Guatemala. Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel and Attorney General Luis Donado joined him at Monday's announcement.

The Constitutional Court had ruled against President Jimmy Morales' effort to keep Velasquez out and made clear its unanimous decision late Sunday could not be appealed.

Morales announced in late August that he would not renew the mandate of the commission, whose corruption probes have helped put former presidents and other officials behind bars. Morales too is under investigation.</s>GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Guatemala’s Constitutional Court orders President Jimmy Morales to allow head of UN anti-graft body to re-enter country.

The Washington Times welcomes your comments on Spot.im, our third-party provider. Please read our The Washington Times welcomes your comments on Spot.im, our third-party provider. Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.</s>Guatemala’s constitutional court has ordered President Jimmy Morales to allow the head of a UN-backed anti-corruption commission to return to Guatemala, dealing a blunt rebuke to the leader who has sought in recent weeks to dismantle the body.

The unanimous ruling by the court’s five magistrates marked the second time in as many years that the court has reversed Morales’ efforts to keep commission chief Ivan Velasquez out of Guatemala. Velasquez has pressed a number of high-profile graft investigations, including one that is pending against the president himself.

There was no immediate public reaction from the president. His spokesman, Alfredo Brito, did not immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Morales announced in late August that he would not renew the mandate of the commission for another two-year term, effectively giving it a year to wind up its activities.

A few days later he said that Velasquez, a Colombian national who was in Washington at the time, would be barred from re-entering the country. Morales called him “a person who attacks order and public security”

Morales’ order touched off public protests in support of the body, and multiple appeals were promptly filed with the constitutional court. Issuing its decision on Sunday night, the court said its ruling must be obeyed and cannot be appealed.

Morales said earlier this month that he was “not obligated to obey illegal rulings,” which observers interpreted as a clear allusion to the court’s previous checks on his actions.

Last year, Morales had declared Velasquez persona non grata and tried to have him expelled from the country, but that move was also blocked by the constitutional court.

Among the investigations that the commission, known as Cicig for its initials in Spanish, has brought in Guatemala was one that led to the resignation and jailing of former President Otto Perez Molina and his vice president. Others have ensnared dozens of politicians, public officials and businesspeople.

Morales is suspected in a case involving more than $1m in purported illicit campaign financing. In August, Guatemala’s Supreme Court allowed a motion by Cicig and Guatemalan prosecutors seeking to lift the president’s immunity from prosecution to go to lawmakers. If they approve it, he would be opened up to possible prosecution.

Morales denies wrongdoing, but critics saw his move to wind down Cicig and bar Velasquez as a manoeuvre to protect himself as well as relatives and associates also in the sights of investigators.</s>GUATEMALA CITY — In a blunt rebuke to President Jimmy Morales, Guatemala's Constitutional Court ordered that the head of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption commission be let back in the country two weeks after Morales barred him as he moved to defang the investigative body.

The unanimous ruling late Sunday by the court's five magistrates marked the second time in as many years that the court has reversed Morales' efforts to keep Ivan Velasquez out of Guatemala. The commission's chairman has pressed a number of high-profile graft probes, including one pending against the president himself.

There was no immediate public reaction from the president. His spokesman, Alfredo Brito, did not respond to phone calls Sunday night seeking comment.

Morales announced in late August that he would not renew the mandate of the commission for another two-year term, effectively giving it a year to wind down and end its activities.

A few days later the president said that Velasquez, a Colombian national who was in Washington at the time, would be prohibited from re-entering this Central American nation. Morales called him "a person who attacks order and public security in the country."

Morales' order touched off public protests in support of the body, and multiple appeals were promptly filed with the Constitutional Court.

In issuing its decision, the court said its ruling must be obeyed and cannot be appealed.

Morales said earlier this month that he was "not obligated to obey illegal rulings," which observers interpreted as a clear allusion to the court's previous checks on his actions.

Last year, Morales had declared Velasquez persona non grata and tried to have him expelled from Guatemala, but that move was blocked by the Constitutional Court.

Among the investigations that the commission, known as CICIG for its initials in Spanish, has brought in Guatemala was one that led to the resignation and jailing of former President Otto Perez Molina and his vice president. Others have ensnared dozens of politicians, public officials and businesspeople.

Morales is suspected in a case involving more than $1 million in purported illicit campaign financing. In August, Guatemala's Supreme Court allowed a motion by CICIG and Guatemalan prosecutors seeking to lift the president's immunity from prosecution to go to lawmakers. If they approve it, he would be opened up to possible prosecution.

Morales denies wrongdoing, but critics have seen his effort to wind down CICIG and bar Velasquez as a maneuver to protect himself as well as relatives and associates also in the sights of investigators.

The president had asked the United Nations to designate someone to replace Velasquez, but the world body opted to keep him in charge for the time being, working remotely from abroad. The U.N. defended CICIG and its commissioner, saying the body has played "a pivotal role in the fight against impunity in Guatemala."
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, along with Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart, Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel, and State Attorney Luis Donado say that they will not abide by the Constitutional Court's resolution in which ordered President Morales and his cabinet to allow Iván Velásquez Gómez, the head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, to enter Guatemala.