The 12 Supreme Court justices (SCJ) and nine members elected by the College of Lawyers and Notaries of Guatemala (Cang) representing the lists of the Professional Solidarity Group (Aspa), United for Law and Platform of Professionals for Justice, the Trade Union Unity of Related Professional Lawyers (Ugap) and the Trade Union Coalition are engaged in a power struggle against the university deans and the three members of the Cang group, United for Justice.
For the second time, the nominating committee that will select the list of candidates for appeals court judges met yesterday to discuss the issue of where the commission’s headquarters will be.
So far, two proposed locations have been considered: Rafael Landívar University (URL) and the courtroom of the Judicial Branch (OJ). Neither of the two groups managed to obtain the 25 votes to define the place where the entire process will take place.
Although time is one of the enemies of the candidates for the change of magistrates, the commissioners refuse to move forward on other agenda items until the venue is finalized.
Strain
“Gentlemen, we have to move forward,” was the recurring phrase of the commission president, Raúl Arévalo, in his desire to move forward with the work. “I am very concerned,” he insisted, pointing out that the first point has not been concluded in three meetings.
The proposal to continue using the URL space has maintained, in more than a dozen rounds of voting, the support of 16 commissioners. The possibility of packing up and moving to the OJ has the support of 21 and 22 votes.
Some commissioners requested that a visit to the OJ be organized to see the space. Arévalo asked again: “How many commissioners know the Palace of Justice?” He is the only one who does not know it, so the proposal did not obtain consensus.
The issue generated some criticism. Commissioner Evert Barrientos, a judge of the CSJ, commented at the meeting that one of the members is not a lawyer, although he did not mention his name.
Arévalo said shortly afterwards: “This is an attack on my profession. The fact that I am a doctor is a greater guarantee, because I have no interests or biases of any kind. I did not want to enter into a discussion on the subject and it does not contribute anything.”
To the court
One of those who argued most strongly in favor of the CSJ as the headquarters was Commissioner Horacio Avendaño. He stressed that the best option for work, from his point of view, is the Palace of Justice.
There was a proposal from the commission’s president to list the points against the URL being the headquarters, but Avendaño indicated that it was not the most appropriate, because the points had already been presented.
“I do not believe that the exercise of an assessment can be imposed (…) the practice of this exercise, and in the spirit of compliance with the law, I request that it be put to a vote,” he urged.
This argument was one of the reasons why Arévalo’s suggestion did not obtain the necessary votes. However, some commissioners reaffirmed the need for the venue to be neutral.
Luis Velásquez, commissioner of the CANG, said that the appropriate thing would be to have a neutral headquarters and not the Palace of Justice, which represents one of the three branches of government. “It is a work center, like a center of power.”
The commissioners who do not want the SCJ as the venue consider that there may be a potential conflict of interest. But the judge of the SCJ, Ronald Colindres, had a different opinion.
“The interest of the 12 commissioners of the CSJ is to propose candidates for good appeals chambers. There is no conflict of interest because the building does not have a single appeals chamber,” Colindres stressed.
Given the lack of agreement and after almost five hours of meeting, the nominating committee decided to postpone the session again. They will continue next Monday, when the venue will be one of the key points to be defined.
In the commission, some commissioners again questioned the origin of the funds with which the nominating body operates. One of those who argued about this was Colindres, who requested that the meetings be held in the Courtroom.
The agenda
The deputy secretary, Luis Aragón, considered that it was feasible to continue with other issues. For example, continuing with the discussion of the internal regulations, but this point, which has nothing to do with the venue, was not supported by the judges either.
“We ask that the meeting be suspended and that it be resumed on Monday afternoon. If there are activities, we will have to stay overnight,” said CSJ magistrate Carlos Rivera.
Another proposal was to move forward to define the grading table, but it was not supported by the magistrates and some lawyers elected by the Cang, as documented in the voting events.
Deadlines
The president of the commission, Arévalo, pointed out that in previous processes of election of magistrates of courts, the headquarters has remained at a university.
He added that his proposed schedule includes work on September 15, Independence Day.
“We have to get there, not that I believe. We have to get there,” the commissioner reiterated, referring to the established deadlines.
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