Gangsters have infiltrated politics by financing campaigns, putting up candidates and creating construction companies to win government contracts

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Drug money and corruption are now key sources of financing for political parties in Guatemala, a prominent anti-crime commission said on Thursday, ramping up pressure on the Central American country’s battered political establishment.



Just two months from a presidential ballot, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a United Nations-backed independent group working with prosecutors to root out corruption, said that political contributor anonymity is facilitating links to organised crime.

“Corruption is the principal source of financing for political parties,” Ivan Velasquez, commissioner at the CICIG, told a news conference. The group’s investigations have rocked the government and led to the arrest of some high-ranking officials, including the central bank chief.

The report said that drug trafficking had infiltrated local politics by financing campaigns, putting its own members up as candidates and creating construction companies that later won government contracts.

Since Guatemala decided in April to renew the CICIG’s mandate, encouraged by the United States, corruption scandals have prompted several key politicians in the country to stand down, including vice-president Roxana Baldetti.

Guatemala’s president, Otto Perez, who has not been directly accused of any wrongdoing, is waiting to see whether US Congress decides to strip him of his immunity to be investigated over pending cases.