Guatemalan President Resigns Amid Scandal

[bemildred]

MEXICO CITY — President Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala resigned on Thursday to face charges in a customs fraud scandal that has generated a sweeping protest movement of citizens enraged by government corruption.

In a letter to the president of Congress, Mr. Pérez Molina said that he was resigning to “face justice and resolve my personal situation.” Vice President Alejandro Maldonado is expected to become president for the remainder of Mr. Pérez Molina’s term, which ends in January.

The resignation was viewed as a victory for the rule of law in a country with a long history of impunity for the business and political elite. Networks of corruption have gone unpunished as powerful groups succeeded in turning the law to their own advantage.

But in a series of swift-moving events since prosecutors first accused Mr. Pérez Molina two weeks ago of leading the customs fraud scheme, his allies in the cabinet and the powerful business confederation deserted him, and street protests mounted. Then, on Tuesday, Congress voted to strip him of immunity from prosecution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/world/asia/otto-perez-molina-guatemalan-president-resigns-amid-scandal.html?_r=0

[Demeter]

1. I hope truth and justice win

Keeping my fingers crossed for Guatemala.

[bemildred]

2. A desperate, squalid, rear-guard action to hang on to whatever shreds of power one can,

seems more likely. Perhaps we can send in some advisers to help restore order.

[Judi Lynn]

3. They have hauled his backside off to the slammer! Cool.

Guatemala swears in new president as ex-leader detained

Latest update : 2015-09-04

Guatemala’s Congress swore in a new president Thursday as disgraced former leader Otto Perez was ordered detained to prevent him becoming a fugitive from justice in the Central American nation’s long-running corruption saga.

Perez spent much of a tumultuous day at proceedings held at Guatemala’s Supreme Court, answering a raft of corruption allegations, just hours after handing in his resignation.

His vice president Alejandro Maldonado—a 79-year-old conservative who only assumed the office in May—will serve out the rest of his former boss’s term, handing over to a new president on January 14 after scheduled elections this weekend.

“The Guatemalan people have been at the center of great moments of change and upheaval in our institutions, mobilized by their disgust with broken systems,” said Maldonado, a lawyer and former judge on the Constitutional Court, after taking the oath of office and assuming the blue and white presidential sash.

More:
http://www.france24.com/en/20150904-guatemala-swears-new-president-ex-leader-detained-perez

[flamingdem]

4. K & R!

[Judi Lynn]

5. Guatemala's most powerful man just got arrested hours after resigning as president

Guatemala's most powerful man just got arrested hours after resigning as president

Alexandra Alper and Sofia Menchu, Reuters
3h

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala's Otto Perez resigned as president and was jailed on Thursday while a judge weighs charging him in a corruption scandal that gutted his government and plunged the country into a political crisis days before a presidential election.

In an emergency session, Congress approved Perez's resignation after the retired general quit overnight. Former vice president Alejandro Maldonado was sworn in as president to fill out the remaining months of Perez's term.

Tens of thousands of protesters had flooded the streets of the capital and other cities in recent weeks, calling for Perez to step down over allegations he was involved in a customs racket.

Celebrations over Perez's resignation erupted in a plaza of the capital on Thursday, as the country prepared for presidential and congressional elections on Sunday.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/guatemalas-most-powerful-man-just-got-arrested-hours-after-resigning-as-president-2015-9#ixzz3kjnElHBZ