GUATEMALA-CORRUPTION/LATEST Former vice president Roxana Baldetti is taken into custody and transferred to a military prison

Record ID: 143048

  • Title: GUATEMALA-CORRUPTION/LATEST Former vice president Roxana Baldetti is taken into custody and transferred to a military prison
  • Date: 22nd August 2015
  • Summary: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (AUGUST 21, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** CAR CARRYING FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT ROXANA BALDETTI ARRIVING AT MATAMOROS MILITARY PRISON ACTIVISTS CHEERING AT ARREST OF FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE PROTECTING VEHICLE CARRYING BALDETTI BALDETTI HIDING INSIDE VEHICLE WHILE PROTESTERS CHANT 'THIEF! THIEF!' PROTEST
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Guatemala
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABU9JY601BSDOVO7Z0INUZ4HSU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Guatemalan authorities transferred detained former Vice President Roxana Baldetti to a military prison late Friday (August 22) night, as protesters chanted victoriously and demanded the impeachment of President Otto Perez.
    Baldetti, who stood down in May, was arrested earlier in the day while receiving treatment at a hospital on charges connected to a customs fraud scandal.
    Prosecutors said she is suspected of illicit association, bribery and fraud linked to the customs racket known as La Linea. She has denied any wrongdoing.
    Perez's conservative administration has spent much of this year mired in public protests and scandals over corruption allegations against senior officials, several of whom the retired general fired during a cabinet purge in May.
    More than 20 other people have been arrested over the scam, though how much money was involved is still unclear.
    Activists gathered in Guatemala City to celebrate Baldetti's arrest, which they see as a victory.
    "Today, we are celebrating the arrest warrant of Roxana Baldetti, Guatemala's former thieving vice-president," said activist Bernardo Silva.
    Baldetti has denied wrongdoing but quit after reports that she was involved in illegal payment of fees to avoid customs duties. Her chief aide, who is also implicated in the scandal, disappeared after joining her on a trip to South Korea in April.
    Guatemala's attorney general is seeking to impeach the president based on an investigation by prosecutors and a powerful U.N.-backed anti-corruption body known as the CICIG which gathered evidence from almost 6,000 emails, 89,000 telephone taps and 17 raids over a period of several months.
    Last week, Perez narrowly avoided losing his presidential immunity from prosecution when not enough Congress members voted to revoke it so he could be investigated over the scandals.
    If the Supreme Court approves prosecutors' impeachment request, Congress would still have to give its consent.
    Guatemalan activist Gabriela Flores said she hopes to see Perez's arrest and the postponement of September elections.
    "For Guatemala, this means joy, dignity, it signifies the satisfaction of knowing that all these Saturdays, these fights that we have had, have been worth it, at least as far as capturing this lady goes. We hope that we will have justice, that (President) Otto Perez Molina will also go to jail. We hope that elections are cancelled because we're in no condition to vote," she said.
    Perez's Patriot Party is way behind in polls before a first round of voting on September 6.
    The anti-corruption investigations led by the CICIG have also hit the center-right opposition Lider party, whose election candidate Manuel Baldizon is leading opinion polls.
    No candidates are expected to win more than 50 percent of the September vote, so the presidential election is likely to move to a second round run-off on October 25. Guatemalan law bars the president from seeking re-election.
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