Yearbook 2017
Guatemala. According to Countryaah.com, the situation became increasingly critical for President Jimmy Morales during the year. In August, Prosecutor General Thelma Aldana and the head of the UN-supported Special Commission Against Impunity (CICIG), Iván Velásquez, presented a report on illegal election campaign funding. The report pointed out President Morales, who, as party secretary, responsible for his party’s failure to disclose the origins of $ 600,000 to the 2015 election campaign for his party FCN-Nación (Aldana and Velásquez), who made themselves known for his uncompromising struggle against the corruption in the country, at the same time made it clear that they would take steps to deprive Morales of his immunity and bring him to trial. Morales caused great outrage by only two days later declaring Velásquez persona non grata and ordering him to leave the country. Both domestic grassroots movements and international players, such as the UN and the EU, objected to Morale’s decision, and it was also repealed by the Guatemalan Constitutional Court as a violation of the Constitution. Morales was also involved in a corruption charge against his son and brother, who were brought to justice on August 30.
| Land area | 108,889 km² |
| Total population | 17.153.288 |
| Population density (per km²） | 157.5 |
| Capital | Guatemala City |
| Official language | Spanish |
| Income per capita | $ 8,200 |
| Currency | Quetzal |
| ISO 3166 code | GT |
| Internet TLD | .gt |
| License plate | GCA |
| Telephone code | +502 |
| Time zone UTC | – 6 |
| Geographic coordinates | 15 30 N, 90 15 W. |
Morales and Guatemala’s reputation was not significantly improved by the events in the following months. First, it was revealed that Morales illegally received unreported payments from the military, and in October, Congress voted no to deprive him of his immunity and voted simultaneously to prevent party secretaries from being held accountable for any illegal election funding. Media noted that several of the congressmen who supported the proposals themselves were suspected of financial irregularities. Not unexpectedly, in October, the international credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s announced that, due to, among other things, persistent political instability, Guatemala had been downgraded to BB- on its index scale. Equally gloomy was the UN report on the standard of living in the country that came at the beginning of the year.
However, prosecutors Aldana and Velásquez continued their investigations on corruption in the country’s other parties tirelessly. Álvaro Arzú, former president (1996-2000) and current mayor of Guatemala City, was also charged with corruption and conspiracy with organized crime.