GUATEMALA CITY, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on Monday showed signs of wavering on his decision to expel the head of a United Nations-backed anti-graft unit, who is investigating the leader's campaign financing.

Morales on Sunday declared Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), "persona non grata" and ordered him to leave the Central American country immediately. Hours later, the nation's top court suspended the decision.

After two days of protests in the capital and criticism from the United States and European Union, there were signs Morales could backtrack on his initial insistence that he had the authority to expel Velasquez.

Government spokesperson Heinz Heimann said on Monday Morales was studying the court decision to suspend his order to force out Velasquez, saying the government would respect the law.

"The resolution is being legally analyzed, respecting the rule of law, the laws and separation of powers," said Heimann, who also "completely" ruled out rumors the government could declare a state of emergency due to the protests.

It is not yet clear if Morales will challenge the court, a move that could put him in contempt and at risk of losing his job, according to constitutional experts consulted by Reuters.

"Bring Jimmy Morales to justice!," hundreds of students chanted in unison as they marched towards the presidential palace in downtown Guatemala City on Monday.

Velasquez, who previously investigated drug cartels and paramilitary groups in his homeland Colombia, was declared "persona non grata" days after the CICIG said Morales should be investigated over alleged illicit funding in his election run.

With powers to prepare crime and corruption cases, the CICIG was in 2015 instrumental in removing from office former Guatemalan president Otto Perez after identifying him as a key player in an alleged multi-million-dollar corruption racket.

The CICIG has been strongly backed by western powers.

"We expect the Guatemalan government to allow CICIG to do its critical work without interference," said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.

The European Union said the decision to declare Velasquez persona non grata put at great risk the work initiated by the CICIG on strengthening the rule of law in Guatemala.

Morales, a former comedian, won election in late 2015 after riding a wave of public discontent over the corruption scandals that brought down his predecessor Perez. (Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel and Sofia Menchu; Additional reporting by Luis Echeverria; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Andrew Hay) </s> GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced Sunday he is expelling the head of a U.N. anti-corruption commission that is investigating the president’s campaign financing.

A video posted on the government’s Twitter site showed Morales declaring Ivan Velasquez “non grata” and ordering him to leave the country immediately. He also announced he was firing Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales for failure to carry out the expulsion.

Velasquez heads a 10-year-old commission of experts that has worked with Guatemalan prosecutors to root out corruption in the country. It was key to bringing down former President Otto Perez Molina, who was forced to resign in 2015 and remains in prison.

Chief prosecutor Thelma Aldana, working with the U.N. commission, announced on Friday that she was asking the Supreme Court recommend stripping Morales of his immunity from prosecution in order to investigate financing of his 2015 campaign, when he ran on the slogan “Neither corrupt nor a crook.” If the court agrees, the decision on immunity would be made by Congress.

The prosecutor said Morales had refused to account for more than $800,000 in campaign financing and had hidden his own party’s accounts.

Some 2,500 people demonstrated in the capital on Saturday to demand Morales resign. </s> Demonstrators protest against Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales in front of the National Palace in Guatemala City, Guatemala, August 27, 2017. REUTERS/Fabricio Alonzo

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on Sunday appeared to defy a court ruling that he not expel the head of an influential U.N. anti-graft unit investigating his campaign financing, deepening an institutional crisis in the Central American nation.

Earlier on Sunday, the president said Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG, must leave the country immediately. Hours later, the nation's top court suspended the decision.

In a nearly four-minute address in which he was flanked by Guatemalan flags, Morales accused Velasquez of exceeding his mandate. He said the decision to expel him was a matter of foreign policy and therefore the responsibility of the executive, not the courts.

In the charged atmosphere, hundreds of Guatemalans took to the streets, mostly to defend Velasquez outside his offices and in the center of Guatemala City, although some groups came out in support of the president and against foreign interference.

Velasquez, a veteran prosecutor who previously investigated drug cartels and paramilitary groups in his home country, Colombia, remained in his office on Sunday afternoon, where he was meeting with supportive foreign ambassadors.

The U.S. State Department said it was "deeply concerned" about the move against the anti-corruption unit, echoing criticism by the United Nations, Europe and Canada. Several senior members of Morales' government resigned over the issue.

In its ruling, the country's highest civil court said the foreign, defense and interior ministers should not participate in removing Velasquez from the country. Two constitutional experts consulted by Reuters said the president would be committing a crime if he does not obey the court.

With powers to prepare crime and corruption cases, CICIG was instrumental in removing Guatemala's former president, Otto Perez Molina, from office in 2015 after identifying him as a key player in an alleged multimillion-dollar corruption racket.

Morales, a former comedian, came to power in 2016, winning the election on an anti-corruption ticket.

Morales' declaration that Velasquez was "persona non grata" came days after CICIG said the president should be investigated over alleged illicit funding during his election campaign. CICIG is investigating some $800,000 in allegedly unexplained contributions to Morales' campaign. Morales has denied any wrongdoing.

CICIG has been a thorn in the president's side since it started a graft probe focused on his elder brother and one of his sons.

Many politicians in Guatemala consider the foreign-led body, which is unusual among U.N. bodies for its powers to bring cases to prosecutors, to be a violation of national sovereignty. Anti-corruption activists credit it with cleaning up government.

It is responsible for the arrests of at least 15 current and former members of Congress on corruption charges.

Guatemala's foreign minister, deputy foreign minister, health minister and three deputy health ministers all left the government earlier in the day, according to a spokesman and a resignation letter. The circumstances of the foreign minister's departure were not immediately clear, but he said on Friday he would resign if Velasquez were forced out.

"You've taken a position in favor of impunity and the corrupt sectors of the country, contradicting all of the statements you once made about justice and transparency,"

Health Minister Lucrecia Hernandez wrote in the letter, also signed by three vice ministers who resigned with her.

Guatemala has struggled to thwart corruption and organized crime since it ended 36 years of civil war in 1996, and memories have not faded of ruptures with democracy under a military government in the 1980s.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement he was "shocked" by Morales' move, and called on Guatemalan authorities to treat Velasquez with respect. In a joint statement issued by the U.S. Embassy, a group of nine Western countries and the European Union strongly backed Velasquez and criticized Morales' move to oust him.

Representative Eliot Engel of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said he was "extremely disappointed" by Morales' decision and called on the State Department and Congress to examine the future of U.S. assistance to the Guatemalan government.

"CICIG has played a transformational role in combating corruption and impunity in Guatemala," he said in a statement. </s> Guatemala City, Guatemala - The government of Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has said it is withdrawing from a UN-backed anti-corruption commission and is giving the body's staff 24 hours to leave the country, in a move that drew criticism from human rights groups and constitutional lawyers.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Morales accused the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, commonly known as CICIG, of polarising the country and putting its security at risk, as well as violating human rights and being allied with criminal structures and "terrorists".

"The State of Guatemala terminates the agreement with CICIG because of the serious violation of national and international laws," Morales said in Guatemala City, adding that his government had waited 16 months for the UN to respond to their complaints.

"The CICIG has put at risk the sovereignty of the people of Guatemala," Morales said, accusing the UN of not "seeking solutions" to alleged violations.

Morales made the comments surrounded by the families of those he asserts are falsely accused by the CICIG, including a Russian family which was prosecuted and sentenced to seven years in prison for using a falsified Guatemalan passport.

Ahead of the press conference, Sandra Jovel, Guatemala's minister of foreign affairs, had informed UN chief Antonio Guterres of the unilateral decision.

"The agreement is finalised," Jovel told reporters. "We hope the secretary-general will respect of sovereignty."

The CICIG was formed in 2006 upon the request of the Guatemalan government to combat high rates of impunity for crimes. It was ratified by the country's legislative branch in 2007 following a massive police scandal.

The commission's 2015 corruption investigation in the administration of Otto Perez Molina led to the resignation of the former president, who is currently facing criminal charges.

Morales utilised an anti-corruption platform in the country's 2015 election, promising voters he was "not corrupt, or a thief". Yet he and his family have faced corruption allegations since taking office in January 2016.

Allies of Morales in the country's Congress led by Estuardo Galdamez, of the FCN-Nacion party, had called on the president to unilaterally repeal the law that formed the body. Many congressional members are currently under investigation for corruption.

In August last year, Morales announced that he would not be renewing the mandate of the anti-impunity body. The president also attempted to declare CICIG head Ivan Velasquez a "persona non-grata" and bar him from the country.

But the country's Constitutional Court in September ruled against the ban on Velasquez, ordering that he must be permitted to re-enter Guatemala. The goverment has remained steadfast in its position, sparking a deepening constitutional crisis.

Earlier on Monday, Stephane Dujarric, UN spokesperson, had urged Guatemala's government to allow the free movement of CICIG staff in the country, as in accordance with the 2006 agreement.

His call came two days after Guatemalan immigration officials denied Yilen Osorio, a Colombian CICIG investigator, entry into the country and detained him upon arrival.

The detention violated a December 21 court order issued by Guatemala's highest court which said the government must allow entry for 11 CICIG investigators whose visas were revoked earlier that month. The government argued that the investigators posed a threat to national security, giving them 72 hours to leave the country.

Osorio was finally permitted to enter the country after being held for some 24 hours following an order by the Constitutional Court.

Oswaldo Samayoa, a Guatemalan constitutional lawyer, said that among those whose visas were removed are the lead investigators of the cases against Morales, his brother and son.

"There is clearly a conflict of interests in the decisions of Morales," Samayoa told Al Jazeera. "It is a form of revenge disguised in the discourse of sovereignty."

Commenting on Guatemala's CICIG withdrawal, Samayoa said Monday's announcement was "disastrous for our country, for our democracy and our fragile institutions".

"All these actions are against the law and constitution," Samayoa added.

"The agreement with the United Nations that formed the CICIG says that only the UN can end the anti-corruption body," explained Samayoa, pointing to articles 11 and 14 of the agreement and citing article 149 of Guatemala's constitution, which upholds the country's commitment to human rights and international accords.

Iduvina Hernandez, director of human rights organisation Security in Democracy, alleged that Morales "is destroying the institutional order".

"These actions are a coup d'etat against the rule of law," Hernandez told Al Jazeera. "This is being carried out by those in government that wish to maintain their privileges."

The president's move was also condemned by Democrats in the United States, including Representative Norma Torres.

"Jimmy Morales' presidency has set the country back years, if not decades," Torres said in a statement.

"Morales had a historic opportunity to give Guatemalans the transparent and effective government that they deserve. Instead, when faced with the prospect of criminal investigation by CICIG and the public ministry, he chose to destroy the rule of law in order to protect himself," Torres wrote.

"He has engaged in a pattern of behaviour that has undermined Guatemala’s justice system and brought the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis." </s> GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on Sunday appeared to defy a court ruling that he not expel the head of an influential U.N. anti-graft unit investigating his campaign financing, deepening an institutional crisis in the Central American nation.

Demonstrators protest against Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales in front of the National Palace in Guatemala City, Guatemala, August 27, 2017. REUTERS/Fabricio Alonzo

Earlier on Sunday, the president said Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG, must leave the country immediately. Hours later, the nation’s top court suspended the decision.

In a nearly four-minute address in which he was flanked by Guatemalan flags, Morales accused Velasquez of exceeding his mandate. He said the decision to expel him was a matter of foreign policy and therefore the responsibility of the executive, not the courts.

In the charged atmosphere, hundreds of Guatemalans took to the streets, mostly to defend Velasquez outside his offices and in the center of Guatemala City, although some groups came out in support of the president and against foreign interference.

Velasquez, a veteran prosecutor who previously investigated drug cartels and paramilitary groups in his home country, Colombia, remained in his office on Sunday afternoon, where he was meeting with supportive foreign ambassadors.

The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about the move against the anti-corruption unit, echoing criticism by the United Nations, Europe and Canada. Several senior members of Morales’ government resigned over the issue.

In its ruling, the country’s highest civil court said the foreign, defense and interior ministers should not participate in removing Velasquez from the country. Two constitutional experts consulted by Reuters said the president would be committing a crime if he does not obey the court.

With powers to prepare crime and corruption cases, CICIG was instrumental in removing Guatemala’s former president, Otto Perez Molina, from office in 2015 after identifying him as a key player in an alleged multimillion-dollar corruption racket.

Morales, a former comedian, came to power in 2016, winning the election on an anti-corruption ticket.

Morales’ declaration that Velasquez was “persona non grata” came days after CICIG said the president should be investigated over alleged illicit funding during his election campaign. CICIG is investigating some $800,000 in allegedly unexplained contributions to Morales’ campaign. Morales has denied any wrongdoing.

CICIG has been a thorn in the president’s side since it started a graft probe focused on his elder brother and one of his sons.

Many politicians in Guatemala consider the foreign-led body, which is unusual among U.N. bodies for its powers to bring cases to prosecutors, to be a violation of national sovereignty. Anti-corruption activists credit it with cleaning up government.

It is responsible for the arrests of at least 15 current and former members of Congress on corruption charges.

RESIGNATIONS

Guatemala’s foreign minister, deputy foreign minister, health minister and three deputy health ministers all left the government earlier in the day, according to a spokesman and a resignation letter. The circumstances of the foreign minister’s departure were not immediately clear, but he said on Friday he would resign if Velasquez were forced out.

“You’ve taken a position in favor of impunity and the corrupt sectors of the country, contradicting all of the statements you once made about justice and transparency,”

Health Minister Lucrecia Hernandez wrote in the letter, also signed by three vice ministers who resigned with her.

Guatemala has struggled to thwart corruption and organized crime since it ended 36 years of civil war in 1996, and memories have not faded of ruptures with democracy under a military government in the 1980s.

Slideshow (12 Images)

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement he was “shocked” by Morales’ move, and called on Guatemalan authorities to treat Velasquez with respect. In a joint statement issued by the U.S. Embassy, a group of nine Western countries and the European Union strongly backed Velasquez and criticized Morales’ move to oust him.

Representative Eliot Engel of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said he was “extremely disappointed” by Morales’ decision and called on the State Department and Congress to examine the future of U.S. assistance to the Guatemalan government.

“CICIG has played a transformational role in combating corruption and impunity in Guatemala,” he said in a statement. </s> GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala's President Jimmy Morales announced Sunday he was expelling the head of the U.N.-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, known as CICIG in Spanish. But the move was quickly blocked by the country's top court. Background on the commission and its role in Guatemala:

Guatemala's Congress, under heavy international pressure, voted in 2007 to ratify the commission, which is made up of foreign experts to help local law enforcement build cases and gain expertise in fighting organized crime and police corruption. The country had seen an explosion of drug gang violence and corruption in the decade after the end of a 1960-1996 civil war in which 200,000 people died. Opponents said the commission was an unconstitutional violation of Guatemala's sovereignty.

The commission began by going after police corruption and drug gang enforcers and kidnappers. Its recommendations led to the firing or resignation of more than 1,700 police officers, several senior prosecutors and six Supreme Court judges.

Its scope rapidly expanded to broader political corruption. In 2008, it helped prosecutors build a case accusing former President Alfonso Portillo of stealing millions from the country's department. While a local court absolved him, Portillo was extradited to the U.S. and served time on money laundering charges. In 2010, it helped clear President Alvaro Colom of allegations he'd orchestrated the murder of a prominent lawyer. It also helped prosecute former and interior ministers for cases including the slayings of prison inmates.

Its crowning achievement was the 2015 resignation of then-President Otto Perez Molina and his Vice-President Roxana Baldetti, who remain jailed awaiting trial on a variety of corruption charges. The wide-ranging investigations have swept up many business people, politicians and bureaucrats. A judge this year gave prosecutors the green light to move ahead with a corruption probe of President Jimmy Morales' son and brother.

The country's chief prosecutor, together with Velasquez, announced Friday that they were moving to strip Morales himself of his immunity from prosecution in order to probe alleged irregularities in the financing of his 2015 presidential campaign. If the Supreme Court approved the request, it would be up to Congress to decide on removing immunity.

Morales didn't address the future of the commission itself. Its current mandate, approved by the government and the U.N., extends through September 2019. The Court injunction blocking expulsion of Velasquez means Morales the future of order itself is in question.

Guatemalan political forces have repeatedly tried to get rid of the commission, but public and international pressure has forced them to back off and renew its two-year terms.

The citizens of other countries in the region have watched its work admiringly, but paradoxically its success in prosecuting top politicians in Guatemala has made it unlikely that another leader in the region would invite the creation of such a commission. </s> Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Guatemalan prosecutors have accused Mr Morales of funding irregularities in the 2015 election

Guatemala has said it is withdrawing from a UN-backed anti-corruption commission which has been investigating the country's President Jimmy Morales.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel said on Monday that the UN body had 24 hours to leave the country.

She said Mr Morales would continue the fight against corruption, but that there had been a misunderstanding about the investigations into his affairs.

Elected three years ago, Mr Morales initially supported the UN commission.

The mandate of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) has helped prosecutors bring cases against dozens of senior officials and executives.

However, when Mr Morales became the subject of its investigations, the president said he would review its mandate.

His comments were criticised and led to street protests against official corruption and demonstrations demanding his resignation.

During a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, Ms Jovel announced that the CICIG mandate, a United Nations body created in 2006 and designed to strengthen the country's rule of law, would be ending.

Mr Guterres responded in a statement, saying that he "strongly rejects" the decision, adding that the government must abide by the international deal.

The CICIG had sought to prosecute Mr Morales, who was a comedian before becoming president in 2016, over allegations of funding irregularities linked to his 2015 election campaign.

The UN backed calls for the removal of Mr Morales's immunity in order to allow him to be investigated.

That move followed separate CICIG investigations into members of the president's family. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Two days after prosecutors announced they would seek to lift Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales’ immunity, he ordered the expulsion of the head of a highly praised U.N. anti-corruption commission and plunged into a faceoff with the nation’s top court and the international community.

It was a stunning reversal for a president whose predecessor had been forced to resign by the same body’s investigation two years earlier and who campaigned as the panel’s biggest advocate. “Neither corrupt nor a crook” was Morales’ campaign slogan.

What happened between the television comedian taking office in January 2016 and the constitutional crisis he provoked Sunday was that the U.N. commission and the aggressive Guatemalan prosecutors it has helped train over the past decade turned their sights on him and allegations of illegal campaign financing.

Morales has strenuously denied any wrongdoing, and rumors swirled last week that Morales’ visit to U.N. headquarters in New York was to get rid of the commission’s head, Ivan Velasquez. By Friday afternoon, Velasquez stood beside chief prosecutor Thelma Aldana to announce that they were asking a court to start the process for removing Morales’ immunity from prosecution, a move that would eventually need the support of congress.

“It’s based on his own personal interest,” Jo-Marie Burt, a senior fellow with the Washington Office on Latin America and a professor in the school of public policy and government at George Mason University, said of Morales’ decision to oust Velasquez.

That order quickly ran into Guatemala’s Constitutional Court, which temporarily suspended the expulsion while it studies the case, based on arguments that Morales had a fundamental conflict of interest. At least one Cabinet minister resigned in protest and the foreign minister was fired for refusing to expel Velasquez, people gathered in the capital in several spots to demonstrate against the decree, and the United States, European Union and others expressed deep concern about the president’s action.

Not only are prosecutors investigating the campaign financing of the party led by the Morales, but his brother and son have been ordered to stand trial for an alleged tax fraud scheme.

Morales remained defiant, issuing another statement later Sunday saying he stood by his original order in spite of what the court ruled.

“He’s pushing the country into a constitutional crisis,” Burt said.

The chief prosecutor had said previously that she would resign if Velasquez was removed, so Morales may have been hoping that he could get rid of the two leaders of the country’s anti-graft efforts. But once the court stepped in, Aldana said she was staying as chief prosecutor, dissent appeared within the president’s administration and protesters took to the streets.

Working together, local prosecutors and the U.N. panel have won popularity over the last decade by beginning to hack away at corruption long endemic in Guatemala, including forcing Otto Perez Molina from the presidency in 2015.

“An attack upon them is an attack upon everyone in Guatemala who is fighting for a better country,” said Mike Allison, a political science professor at the University of Scranton.

Though some people worried Sunday about the potential for the government to declare a state of emergency and try to use security forces to clamp down, both Allison and Burt predicted Morales won’t be able to hold onto power given the new political climate in Guatemala. “It’s going to be a matter of days, maybe even hours,” Burt said. “His presidency in my mind is over.”

Two years ago, corruption allegations against Perez Molina and his vice president, Roxana Baldetti, were mounting and public protests went on for months. Eventually both resigned quietly and they remain in jail awaiting trial.

Perez Molina’s resignation was a crowning achievement for the commission, which has become a powerful voice against corruption in the public square and gained widespread support.

Elizabeth Oglesby, a professor at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona, said Morales and his advisers “miscalculated about the broader political moment.”

She said perhaps they thought that with the political upheaval in the United States there would be little attention paid to Guatemala.

Instead, the U.S. and other donor countries that support the commission issued a joint statement within hours voicing their support for Velasquez. The U.S. State Department then issued a separate statement saying “it remains crucial that (the commission) be permitted to work free from interference by the Guatemalan government.”

Associated Press writer Sonia Perez D. reported this story in Guatemala City and AP writer Christopher Sherman reported from Mexico City. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on Friday shut down a crusading U.N.-sponsored anti-graft commission that has pressed a number of high-profile corruption probes - including one pending against the president himself over purported illicit campaign financing.

Speaking in front of civilian and military leaders, Morales said he had informed the U.N. secretary-general of his decision to revoke the body’s mandate and “immediately” begin transferring its capacities to Guatemalan institutions.

Minutes before the surprise announcement, U.S.-donated army vehicles that Guatemala uses to fight drug and other smuggling were deployed to the commission’s headquarters in the capital in what critics called an attempt at intimidation.

The decision caps a long history of friction between the president and the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG for its initials in Spanish.

In August 2017, Morales announced that he was expelling the commission’s chief, Ivan Velasquez, but that move was quickly blocked by Guatemala’s top court.

At the time Morales declared Velasquez a persona non grata and fired his foreign minister for refusing to carry out the order to expel him, before later backing off and saying he would obey the court’s decision.

Morales accused the commission Friday of “violating our laws, inducing people and institutions to participate in acts of corruption and impunity,” and “selective criminal prosecution with an ideological bias.”

“Selective justice has been used to intimidate and terrorize the citizenry,” he charged. “Judicial independence has been violated, with the intention of manipulating justice, actions that attack the presumption of innocence and due process.”

The announcement was promptly met with criticism from human rights officials and advocates.

“We sincerely regret the great mistake that the president made public in not renewing CICIG’s mandate,” Guatemalan human rights prosecutor Jordan Rodas said. “We are grateful for its valuable contribution in the country to the fight against corruption and impunity.”

Morales is suspected of receiving at least $1 million in undeclared contributions during the 2015 campaign. He has denied wrongdoing.

Last week the Supreme Court allowed a request brought by CICIG and Guatemalan prosecutors to strip his immunity from prosecution to go to Congress for consideration. If 105 lawmakers vote in favor, it could open him up to investigation for possible illicit campaign financing.

“I think there’s a conflict of interest, and an attempt by President Morales to try to protect his own interests in light of the ongoing investigation and probe,” said Adriana Beltran, director for citizen security at the Washington Office on Latin America, which advocates for human rights in the region.

Beltran said CICIG and Velasquez have made remarkable progress in strengthening the rule of law in Guatemala “despite constant attacks and efforts to try to undermine (their) work,” and that “there’s still much more that needs to be done.”

The commission released security camera video showing perhaps a dozen military jeeps taking up position curbside outside the headquarters Friday, some with soldiers manning machine gun turrets. CICIG spokesman Matias Ponce said they were there for a few minutes, and later returned and drove by without stopping. Ponce also told The Associated Press that police and army vehicles intercepted a car carrying a team from the commission on a street in the capital.

Rodas called the deployment an “oversize and intimidating presence.”

“It is an unnecessary military movement that reminds us of days past when there were coups, and now we are a democracy - nobody is above the law,” he said, adding that he would work to guarantee the safety of the commissioner and his team.

Prosecutors’ spokeswoman Julia Barrera said an investigation was opened “to see if any crime was committed” by deploying the vehicles.

The commission’s work with Guatemalan prosecutors has led to high-profile graft probes that ensnared dozens of politicians and businesspeople and even led to the downfall of former President Otto Perez Molina and his then-vice president.

The military deployment came the same day a U.N. human rights team was expelled from the Central American nation of Nicaragua after the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights published a critical report accusing President Daniel Ortega’s government of violent repression of opposition protests.

There was no immediate indication of a link between the two events.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales presents his second government report and starts the second half of his term surrounded by accusations of corruption and protests. Álvaro Arzú Escobar takes office as President of the Congress. Arzú is the son of former president Álvaro Arzú and both are accused of corruption.