On Monday night, President Gustavo Petro unrestrictedly supported Defense Minister Iván Velásquez. The Guatemalan justice system linked him to investigations for alleged corruption in the Odebrecht case. There is even talk of a possible arrest warrant once morest him.
Petro made a strong statement and assured: “I will never accept the arrest warrant for our minister Velásquez.” The president added: “He has shown that he fights once morest corruption and we do not allow corruption to persecute him.”
The president also publicly announced that he immediately called the Colombian ambassador to Guatemala, Victoria González Ariza, for consultations.
Attention: Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office points to the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, for the Odebrecht scandal
This Monday, January 16, an old controversy broke out once morest the current Defense Minister, Iván Velásquez, following the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office announced that it will go once morest the Colombian portfolio manager for events related to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, when he was the head of the International Commission Against Impunity (Cicig).
Well then, the Public Ministry of Guatemala, which also issued another three arrest warrants this Monday and a warning to a Colombian lawyer, sHe pointed out that he is persecuting those people who were linked to the bribes that the construction company would have made in the Latin American country to obtain higher revenues.
Although an arrest warrant has not yet been issued for the senior official, Guatemala’s attorney general, Rafael Curruchiche, has made it clear that he will be seeking justice and hopes to bring legal action once morest Velásquez, who was working hand in hand with what would be the former prosecutor of the Latin American country, Thelma Aldana, when she found herself in charge of Cicig, the latter was issued an arrest warrant this Monday also within the Odebrecht scandal.
“The Special Prosecutor Against Impunity will take legal action to hold former Cicig commissioner Iván Velásquez Gómez, and former Cicig employee Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón, accountable for their illegal, arbitrary and abusive acts.”highlighted the Prosecutor’s Office and immediately continued to explain the arguments they had once morest the high-ranking Colombian official.
Apparently, one of the main pieces of evidence once morest minDefensa nacional is an email, which was sent by the lawyer Camargo Garzónalso a Colombian national, in which he intervened to make a request on behalf of the former prosecutor Aldana y Velásquez, who wanted some aspects of ethical collaborations to be changed in 2017.
A few months later, another email would have been sent in which The participation of both the former prosecutor Aldana and the current minister Velásquez was recorded in a meeting in which the signing of collaboration agreements with the Odebrecht company was approved.
“Which denotes that they had full knowledge of the dark and corrupt negotiations that were being carried out with the Odebrecht company.” sentenced the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office, indicating that according to the documents in his possession the current Minister of Defense would have been a participant in the acts of corruption.
So then, from the Guatemalan Public Ministry it was insisted that they will continue with the actions once morest Velásquez and the lawyer Camargo, all this for having been in the middle of the approvals of the relationship and negotiations with the Brazilian construction company.
Meanwhile, with the accusations once morest the Colombian Ministry of Defense, the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office also reported three arrest warrants once morest the lawyer Juan Pablo Carrasco de Groote, who was an Odebrecht adviser and is linked to the aforementioned emails.
With him, the arrest of ex-prosecutor Aldana was requested; the former Secretary General of the Prosecutor’s Office, Mayra Johana Véliz López and the other senior Cicig official, Luis David Gaitán Arana, who are accused of obstruction of justice, abuse of authority and conspiracy.
It is noteworthy that the current Colombian Defense Minister was declared persona non grata in Guatemala by former President Jimmy Morales, when from the organization that the Colombian directed, the Cicig, together with the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office, began an investigation of the Latin American president for illicit enrichment.
So then, since the presidency of Morales, the Velásquez as “a person who threatens public order and securityaffecting the governability, institutionality, justice and peace of the country”, for which he was denied entry to Guatemala.
