The president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, proposed to Colombia to discuss at the Celac Summit that will take place next week in Buenos Aires the differences that arose as a result of the intention of the Public Ministry of that Central American country to investigate the Colombian Defense Minister, Iván Velásquez.
“Differences between countries must be resolved diplomatically, it is not worth trying to avoid some degree of discomfort with insults or anything. We have proposed to the Government of Colombia that it can be escalated through the foreign ministers taking advantage of who will be in Celac”Giammattei said in an interview with W Radio.
The VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), that Giammattei proposes as a scenario to resolve the differences with Colombia, will be held on January 24 in the Argentine capital.
The Guatemalan president added: “If there is any doubt that the Government has regarding any investigation, I personally do not know it because in our country there is authentic freedom between State powers, each one has their functions. The President of the Republic is the head of State, but He is not the one who commands the courts.”
RESPECT FOR DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY
Giammattei also said that the Guatemalan justice system will respect the diplomatic immunity of the Colombian minister, who between 2013 and 2017 was head of the International Commission Against Impunity (Cicig) in that Central American country, an action that has been questioned by a Guatemalan prosecutor.
“Guatemala has been respectful of all agreements and treaties; even if he has committed a crime, Mr. (Velásquez) cannot be prosecuted, but he must be investigated. So if he is involved, he cannot be tried, but he can be investigated.”said.
The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, and his Guatemalan counterpart have been in a row since last Monday after the announcement by the Public Ministry of that country to prosecute Velásquez for actions related to the corruption of the Brazilian construction company when he was in charge of Cicig.
Last Tuesday, Petro warned Guatemala that the bilateral relationship will be affected if that country’s Prosecutor’s Office insists on taking action against its defense minister.
The verbal confrontation worsened with the call for consultations made by the Colombian Foreign Ministry to its ambassador in Guatemala, to which the Central American country responded with the same measure.
Given this scenario, Petro added yesterday in Davos (Switzerland), where he participated in the World Economic Forum, that the crisis with Guatemala will come “as far as they want to take the situation.”
With information from the EFE agency*