The deficiencies of the Latin American state loom large

As a special prosecutor for corruption in Guatemala since 2015, Juan Francisco Sandoval worked with a un commission to secure convictions against a president and a vice-president. In mid-2021 he was fired by Guatemala’s attorney-general, Consuelo Porras. She accused him of an “ideological” approach and procedural mistakes. He thinks it was because he had uncovered enough evidence to open an investigation against Alejandro Giammattei, Guatemala’s current president, over allegedly paying bribes to secure a docile legislature, having received them from a construction company and several Russian and Kazakh businessmen with mining interests. In 2020 Mr Sandoval found a pile of cash equal to $16m in a house in Antigua Guatemala that he links to the president, who denies any wrongdoing.