ROSENBERG CASE OPENS DOOR TO IMPORTANT RULE OF LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000497

SIPDIS

DEPT PLS PASS TO USAID LAC/CAM - K. SEIFERT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2019
TAGS: PGOV KJUS SNAR PINR GT
SUBJECT: ROSENBERG CASE OPENS DOOR TO IMPORTANT RULE OF LAW

REFORM

REF: A. GUATEMALA 453

B. GUATEMALA 454

C. GUATEMALA 478

Classified By: Acting P/E Counselor Brian Harris for reasons 1.4 (b) an
d (d)


1. (C) Summary: Public opinion, newly focused by the
Rosenberg murder on corruption and transparency, created a
political opening for the U.S. Embassy, along with the
international community, to revive a stalled law to improve
transparency in the process of selecting supreme court
magistrates. The law passed Congress May 21. Pressure from
the Embassy, reiterated by DAS Robinson led the President to
reverse his initial opposition to the law. Embassy
interventions helped open the legislative space needed to
keep fractious Congressional benches in line and pass the
law. End Summary.

New court to be elected
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2. (C) The 13 magistrates of the Guatemalan Supreme Court
are elected for five-year terms. The current court's term is
drawing to a close, and a new group of magistrates is to be
elected not later than October of this year. The UN-led
International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala
(CICIG) estimates that at least six of the 13 current
magistrates are corrupt. Two of the Magistrates, Edgar Pacay
and Augusto Lopez, are suspected of receiving regular
payments from narcotraffickers.

New law could help select less corrupt court
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3. (C) In part because of the decisive role the next court
will play in rule of law reform, Congresswoman Nineth
Montenegro introduced a bill that would have made the Supreme
Court selection process more transparent (ley de comisiones
de postulacion). This legislation would bar persons with
criminal records from serving on the
Congressionally-appointed selection committee, mandate that
the committee evaluate Supreme Court candidates' professional
performance, and publicize candidates' names so they could be
exposed to scrutiny. Passage of the legislation was crucial
to rebuilding Guatemala's rule of law institutions. Its
failure would have increased the likelihood that magistrates
for the next court would be selected for their ability to
serve commercial and partisan interests rather than for their
judicial probity.


4. (C) A variety of interests both in and out of government
had conspired to halt consideration of the bill prior to the
beginning of the selection process for a new court. While
President Colom told the Ambassador early on that he
supported the law, he then backtracked -- at the behest of
his wife, and sister-in-law Gloria Torres. However,
allegations of corruption and conspiracy to commit murder
leveled posthumously at the Colom administration by
Guatemalan lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg (ref A) breathed new life
into the bill. The scandal triggered a wave of popular
pressure for an investigation into Rosenberg's charges and
increased popular disgust with Guatemala's corrupt security
and justice institutions. Members of the international
community and, in particular, the U.S. Embassy took advantage
of the new political environment to press publicly and
privately for the passage of the stalled transparency law.


5. (C) When Congress adjourned its regular session on May
14, the 12-deputy Lider bench was continuing a month-long
interpellation of Minister of Government Salvador Gandara and
the opposition Partido Patriota party had scheduled a
Qthe opposition Partido Patriota party had scheduled a
follow-on interpellation of Minister of Finance Juan Alberto
Fuentes Knight. Under Guatemalan Congressional rules, a
party bench can call for the interpellation of a cabinet
member. Interpellations are held during a plenary meeting of
Congress and trump all other business on the agenda. With
their ability to block action in Congress, interpellations
function much like Senate filibusters.


6. (C) During the week of May 10, the Ambassador worked to
reverse President Colom's previous opposition to the
transparency law and gain the agreement of the opposition to
postpone its planned interpellation of the Finance Minister.

GUATEMALA 00000497 002 OF 002


The Embassy worked with the Lider party to gain its agreement
to suspend the interpellation of the Minister of Government.
As current chair of the Donor Dialogue Group (G-13) the
Ambassador arranged for the COMs of Sweden, Spain, Canada and
the United States to meet May 12 with Congress President
Alejos on the bill. These two efforts opened the legislative
space to consider the law in an extraordinary session.


7. (C) On May 19, when the embassy-brokered deals reached
the week before appeared to be cracking, the Ambassador
contacted President of Congress Roberto Alejos, Lider Party
head Manuel Baldizon (currently in France),and his brother
Congressman Salvador Baldizon, in order to negotiate an
agreement on passing the judicial transparency law. Lider,
which split from Colom's party, UNE, acrimoniously in 2008,
has been in favor of the judicial reform law (unlike UNE,
which changed only after considerable US and foreign pressure
last week - see ref B). The Ambassador told the Baldizon
brothers there is a short window, basically the week of May
18, to approve the law in time for it to affect the 2009
selection process for supreme and appellate court judges.
Torpedoing the law would have immense consequences; it would
support organized crime and narcotraffickers, and it would
undermine CICIG and USG efforts to strengthen rule of law in
Guatemala.


8. (C) Following Embassy interventions, Lider and UNE held a
joint news conference announcing their agreement to go
forward with consideration of the judicial transparency law.
Calls by the Embassy to shore up support of the GANA party
also helped ensure the law's passage on May 21. After a
lengthy floor debate, the law passed by a vote of 95 in favor
and one opposed.


9. (C) Comment: Given the bad blood between UNE and Lider,
and the efforts by a number of forces (including President
Colom up to last weekend) to find an excuse to not pass the
judicial transparency law, the U.S. has played a critical
role in working out this deal. The next step will be to keep
pressure on the Guatemalan Congress, and to hold President
Colom to his promise to Deputy Assistant Secretary Robinson
on March 18, to pass other urgent rule of law reforms such as
the extension of CICIG and the creation permanent of
high-impact courts.
McFarland