Global Integrity Report: Guatemala - 2010

This peer-reviewed country report includes:

Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.

Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.

Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.

HIGHLIghts

Although Guatemala possesses a relatively tight transparency and accountability legal framework, it faces significant challenges in implementing several of those laws. As such, Guatemala earns the dubious distinction of having one of the largest implementation gaps among all the countries covered in the Global Integrity Report: 2010. Journalists covering corruption-related stories face acute physical danger, with a few targeted for attacks. Anti-corruption activists, too, work in dangerous conditions as several have been threatened, assaulted, or even killed. The justice system is inadequate: judges sitting on corruption cases sometimes face intimidation and the indigenous community/women frequently experience unequal treatment. Due to inadequate resources and a system that has not been able to convict law enforcement and other senior officials found guilty of criminal misconduct, the police remain ineffective. Although robust laws are in place to theoretically regulate the financing of political parties and individual candidates, they are almost universally disregarded.

From the Reporter's Notebook: Two critical (anti-money laundering) laws were debated in 2010. Both bills faced strong opposition by economic elites and regional caciques (political leaders) represented in Congress. They claim that their property and personal security might be threatened by these laws, while experts say the regulation shouldn’t scare anyone whose properties didn’t come from laundering money from tax evasion and corruption.