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Articles

Vol. 39 No. 2 (2019)

Guatemala 2018: facing a constitutional crossroad

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-090X2019000200265
Submitted
December 2, 2019
Published
2019-12-03

Abstract

Guatemalan politics were dominated in 2018 by political strife between the Jimmy Morales administration and the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The most pressing issues in Guatemala continue to be corruption and the weakness of the rule-of-law. The year began with but guarded optimism that CICIG could continue its work despite worries about the President’s commitment to democracy, but ended with a constitutional crisis that threatened CICIG’s work in Guatemala. With general elections approaching in 2019, democracy in Guatemala hangs in the balance. However, at the end of 2018, the makeup of the election was still in doubt and Guatemala was in a constitutional crisis that has not been resolved.