BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian President Gustavopetro has criticized a Guatemala court order for the arrest of two senior Colombian officials, accusing the prosecutor’s office of corruption.
Guatemala prosecutor Rafael Carciche on Monday condemned the corrupt attorney general of Colombia’s Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo and former Colombian Defence Minister Ivan Velazquez, accusing him of affecting the immunity of patients in the international committee of national support, which he opposes the immunity of the United Nations under Gaatemala’s immunity, and influenced the conspiracy in the international committee that conspired to the UN.
Peter said Tuesday that the targeting of Camargo and Velázquez was politically motivated, indicating that the Attorney General’s office is “subsidized by the Mafia.”
“Multinarians across Narco Traffic take over legal authorities and governments to carry out illegal operations and whitewash them,” Peter wrote in a post in X.
In a statement released Monday, the Guatemalan government also said it would “emphasize and refuse the arrest warrant.”
“These actions will be carried out for clear political purposes, not based on national and international legal systems.”
While announcing the warrant on Monday, Calcice allegedly without providing evidence that Camargo and Velázquez had abused their powers while working for CICIG in the Odbrecht case.
On Tuesday, Calcice submitted an email between an Odbrecht employee and Camargo to a reporter who said he had proven Camargo and Velázquez were guilty, saying he could not independently verify the validity of the email.
Curruchiche’s office was first announced in January 2023 that it would investigate Velazquez, now the ambassador to the Holy See of Colombia, when he was still Minister of Defense. From 2013 to 2019, Velazquez oversaw CICIG, which discovered several corrupt networks in Guatemala.
The Guatemala prosecutor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Both Camargo and Velázquez have denied the accusation.
“The corrupt Guatemalan Attorney General and her prosecutor, Carcice, have been designated corrupt and approved by the US and the European Union – extending persecution to me and Ruz Adriana Camargo,” Velazquez wrote in the X-Post Tuesday.
The Colombian Attorney General also refused to file charges at a press conference held in Bogota on Wednesday.
“I am comforted by the tranquility of the innocent crimes attributed to me by political bias,” Camargo said.
“Action as a weapon”
Juanita Goebertus Estrada, director of the Americas at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera that the accusations against Colombian officials were unfounded.
“There is no evidence of reliable participation in criminal activities against Velázquez or Camargo,” she said, adding that the warrant was the latest in a series of controversial moves by the office of Guatemala Attorney General Maria Conzuelo Polas, facing international criticism resisting anti-corruption efforts.
“Consuelo Porras has a terrible record of human rights and democracy. She has always used criminal actions as a weapon against those trying to combat corruption in the country,” Goebertus said.
Karcice was criticized for thwarting the election after his office halted the then Bernardo Alevaro party ahead of the 2023 presidential outflow.
The Guatemalan government said arrest warrants are part of a broader pattern of justice overview.
“These are part of a series of actions by the Republic Attorney General, who has relate to corruption that has distorted the meaning of justice in Guatemala, and the judges in relation to corruption,” the Guatemalan government said in a statement Monday.
Despite the arrest order, it appears unlikely that actions against the two officials will take place outside of Guatemala.
“Petro will not comply with the warrant of arrest… and he is very likely to seek an injunction to international notifications by Interpol trying to do the same,” Sergio Guzman, director of security think tank Columbia Risk Analysis, told Al Jazeera.
However, Colombian opposition figures have accepted arrest warrants as evidence of corruption in the Peter regime. Conservative frontrunner Vicki Davila has promised to follow the order in the next year’s presidential election.
“On August 7th next year, we will send them to Guatemala by commercial airmail. Handcuffs and handcuffs as extradition people, and answer the justice of the country on suspicion of crime,” Davila wrote in a post in X on Monday.
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