US Lawmakers Tell Pompeo Guatemala Failing To Meet US Foreign Aid Requirements

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th September, 2018) Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales' decision to ban the UN-mandated International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) violates US foreign assistance conditions, four lawmakers said in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

CICIG chief Ivan Velasquez was banned from Guatemala last week after the anti-corruption body sought an investigation into the possibility Morales violated campaign finance laws.

"Morales' decision on CICIG appears to not meet congressional conditions on US foreign assistance to Guatemala," the letter, signed by Senators Bob Corker and Bob Menendez in addition to Congressmen Ed Royce and Eliot Engel, said on Friday.

According to US law, the letter added, the State Department is required to certify that Guatemala is cooperating with "all commissions against corruption."

On Thursday, Pompeo in a phone conversation told Morales that the Trump administration supports continued efforts to "reform" the CICIG.

On Wednesday, Engel and Albio Sires said Congress would consider cutting foreign aid to Guatemala if Morales does not reverse his decision to expel Velasquez.

On August 22, Guatemala's Supreme Court greenlighted a preliminary inquiry into allegations Morales received more than $1 million in undeclared contributions in 2015. The attorney general and the UN anti-corruption body had asked the nation's Supreme Court to lift the president's immunity so that he could be investigated. The final decision on whether to strip the president of immunity is up to Congress, which voted against it last September.

The government of President Jimmy Morales, who took office in 2016, released a statement, denying the allegations and reiterating the president's commitment to legal order and due process.