57 Global News Post 3

Erika Aifán, Guatemalan City (2019)

Written on March 21st, 2022, “Anti-corruption Guatemalan judge resigns and flees to the US” is an article published by a writer (unnamed) for Association Press News, a New York based American non-profit news agency that spans 99 countries including Guatemala. It covers the hot topic of corruption within the Guatemalan government, summarizing how Judge Erika Aifán, a prominent leader within the condemning cases of multiple businessmen and government figures, resigned that Monday on the 21st and declared their plans to flee the country.

Aifán (from her current refuge in Washington) said that “they left me no other option,” referring to pressure being received from the government, colleagues, and particularly the Attorney General Consuelo Porras for her anti-corruption prosecutions and accusations/actions. She specifically is currently facing at least 20 legal complaints, perhaps in retaliation for such, of overstepping power boundaries. Among her recent cases and affiliated situations, one that may have been the climax of concern is her investigation of the current President’s 2019 presidential campaign and illegal funding – a ‘warrant’ for harassment.

Overall, this current event concerns the reoccurring clash between media and the government, society and the government, and internal conflict within the government itself that occurs within Guatemala. With regards to the topic of general corruption, the role of misinformation is critical and plays a large part of influence within these cases of clashes; although this article did not necessarily cover the main idea of misinformation, it is important to recognize the impact that it may have on something like this and shaping perspectives. Perhaps moving forward and looking into Misinformation as a class subject this week will allow one to come back to this situation and dissect it further, analyzing what misinformation could spawn as a result of this, how it could effect perspectives, whom it would affect the most, and why it would be done.

Resources Sited:

Article Link

https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-central-america-guatemala-guatemala-city-alejandro-giammattei-9fb70801e9f3390e148083f1a862da01

Image

AP Photo/Moises Castillo (2022). [Guatemalan judge for high risk crimes Erika Aifan]. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-central-america-guatemala-guatemala-city-alejandro-giammattei-9fb70801e9f3390e148083f1a862da01