Colombia president backs defence minister accused by Guatemala

• Rafael Curruchiche, the head of Guatemala’s Special Prosecutor will launch legal procedures against Defense Minister.
• Velasquez will be held accountable for illegal, arbitrary, and abusive activities.
• The Colombian President would not accept any arrest warrant for his defence minister.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Monday that he would not accept any “arrest warrant” for his defence minister after a Guatemalan prosecutor accused him of criminal behavior.

Earlier on Monday, Rafael Curruchiche, the head of Guatemala’s Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity, announced his office will launch “legal procedures” against Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, a former UN anti-corruption investigator in Guatemala.

While Curruchiche announced arrest warrants for several people, including Guatemala‘s former Attorney General Thelma Aldana, he did not include Velasquez.

Instead, the prosecutor stated that Velasquez will be held accountable for “illegal, arbitrary, and abusive activities” in connection with an investigation into alleged bribery involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

Velasquez, 67, oversaw Guatemala’s UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity from 2013 to 2019, attracting international notoriety in 2015 for the body’s investigations into a criminal network that involved Guatemala’s then-president, who resigned and was jailed.

Velasquez “showed how to fight corruption, and we will not allow corruption to come after him,” Petro said on Twitter, adding that he had summoned Colombia’s ambassador in Guatemala to discuss the situation.

Velasquez published a statement on the “supposed probe” on Monday, stating he had not been alerted of any requests from Guatemalan authorities regarding him.

“I have complete confidence that the work done in the Central American country was done in complete openness and within the legal framework that allowed CICIG’s operations,” Velasquez said in a statement.

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