CICIG in Guatemala (2007–2019)

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) operated for 12 years as a UN-backed anti-corruption body. It produced 1,540 indictments in 120 cases involving over 70 illicit networks, and contributed to reducing Guatemala’s homicide rate from 45.1 to 26.1 per 100,000 (2009–2017).

CICIG’s biggest case: the “La Línea” customs corruption ring, which led to the resignation and arrest of President Otto Pérez Molina and VP Roxana Baldetti in 2015. President Jimmy Morales terminated the agreement in 2019 after CICIG investigated him, his brother, and his son, demonstrating the backlash anti-corruption mechanisms face from the elites they target.