We denounce new attacks on the rule of law in Guatemala

We strongly condemn the actions of the members of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala who, in a nontransparent manner and without exhausting legal procedures, have elected as a full justice of the Constitutional Court Judge Mynor Moto, who has been accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office of corruption and complicity with organized crime. Judge Moto has a long track record of commitment to impunity for state officials linked to drug trafficking, corruption and human rights violations.

According to numerous human rights institutions, both inside and outside Guatemala, the purpose of this openly illegal maneuver is to pack the highest constitutional court in order to strengthen impunity for violators of fundamental rights and corrupt officials. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity have pointed out that Mynor Moto does not meet the minimum requirements of suitability, capability, honesty and integrity. Despite several amparo petitions and seven appeals against his election still pending, Moto was sworn in at night by a majority group of members of Congress known to Guatemalan citizens and press as the "pact of the corrupt," which enjoys the full support of the President of the Republic, Alejandro Giammattei, and his government.

This open and brazen act of illegality is cause for concern, as it shows the degree of control that organized crime and the system of impunity have achieved in Guatemala over the executive, legislative and judicial branches. History shows the extremes of aberration that government officials can reach when they have lost all legal limits, have stopped taking national and international public opinion into account, and are not deterred by the warnings of multilateral organizations.

This is particularly serious in a country that, in the midst of the greatest global health crisis, is mired in poverty and unemployment, while Central American migrants are being violently repressed, cases of femicide are increasing, and human rights defenders are being criminalized and persecuted. With an average of 15 human rights defenders murdered every year, the Guatemalan State does not guarantee the free exercise of the human right to defend rights.

We express our solidarity with the citizens of Guatemala and encourage them to continue defending the rule of law and to voice their rejection of corruption and impunity. Through their determined struggle and the solidarity and support of the international community, the people of Guatemala will make progress in building a more just and more humane country.

January 29, 2021.

Fundación para la Democracia

Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Memoria Abierta, Argentina.

Asociación Caminos de la Memoria, Peru.

Asociación por la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos Colonia Dignidad, Chile.

Asociación Paz y Esperanza, Peru.

Memorial de la Resistencia Dominicana, Dominican Republic.

Fundación Hijos de la Resistencia Dominicana, Dominican Republic.

Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen –MUPI-, El Salvador.

Red por la Paz y el Desarrollo de Guatemala –RPDG-, Guatemalan Diaspora.

Movimiento de Unidad Progresista y Popular –MUPP-, Guatemala.

Asociación Paz con Dignidad, Spanish State.

Núcleo da Preservação da Memória Política de São Paulo, Brazil.

Museo de la Memoria de Rosario, Argentina.

Central America Studies Group, Institute of Latin American and Caribbean Studies,

University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Fundación 1367 Casa Memoria José Domingo Cañas, Chile.

Instituto Internacional de Aprendizaje para la Reconciliación –IIARS-, Guatemala.

Center for Legal and Social Studies –CELS-, Argentina.

Comisión Provincial por la Memoria –CPM-, Argentina.

Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala –ODHAG-, Guatemala.

Comisión Jacobo Árbenz in Argentina.

Asociación Solidaridad Guatemala-Argentina.

Memorial para la Concordia, Guatemala.

Agrupación de Familiares de Ejecutados Políticos –AFEP-, Chile.

Comunidad Ecuménica Martin Luther King, Chile.

Comisión Funa, Chile.

Corporación La Serena 16 de octubre, Chile.

Fundación Víctor Jara, Chile.

Corporación 3 y 4 Álamos, Parque por la Paz, la Memoria y la Justicia, Chile.

Corporación Memoria Cerro Chena, Chile

Agrupación por la Memoria Histórica Providencia Antofagasta, Chile.

Museo de las Memorias: Dictadura y Derechos Humanos, Paraguay.

Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos y Mártires por la Liberación –

ASOFAMD-, Bolivia.

Red Colombiana de Lugares de Memoria, Colombia.

Secretariat of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.

Faro de la Memoria de Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Archivo Provincial de la Memoria de Córdoba, Argentina.

Todos por Guatemala/All For Guatemala, Canada.

Plataforma de Guatemaltecxs Exiliados por Terrorismo de Estado, Canada.

Montreal Elders for Environmental Justice, Canada.

Older Women Live (OWL) Ckut FM 90.3, Montreal, Canada.

Instituto Espacio para la Memoria, Argentina.

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Argentina.

Nora Räthzel, feminist, Professor of Sociology, Umeå University, Sweden.

Martín Almada, 2002 Alternative Nobel Prize laureate, Paraguay.

Norberto Alayón, Consulting Professor, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

María Stella Cáceres, Director of the Museo de las Memorias, Paraguay.

Daniel Feierstein, Professor of genocide studies at UNTREF and UBA, Argentina.

Lita Stantic, film producer, Argentina.

Alcira Argumedo, sociologist, Professor at the School of Social Sciences of UBA,

Argentina.

Beinusz Szmukler, President of the Continental Advisory Council of the American

Association of Jurists, Argentina.

Ana María Careaga, psychoanalyst, researcher and professor at UBA, Argentina.

Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of the Detained-

Disappeared -FEDEFAM-.

Instituto Vladimir Herzog. Democracy, human rights and freedom of expression,

Brazil.

Committee for the Defense of Health, Ethics and Human Rights -CODESEDH-,

Argentina.

Nora Cortiñas, Mother of Plaza de Mayo – Founding Line, Argentina.

Rodolfo Pastore, Director of the Department of Economics and Administration of the

National University of Quilmes, Argentina.

Diana Mulinari, Department of Gender Studies, Lund University, Sweden.

Ander Neegaard, Ethnic and Migration Studies, Linköping University,

Sweden.

Marta Pérez Valverde, psychoanalyst, Vienna, Austria.

Permanent Assembly for Human Rights –APDH-, Argentina.