56 Global News Post 2
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Nomination Committee
Written on February 20th, 2022, “Analysts explain why there are few candidates for Attorney General and what is expected this week in the Nominating Commission” is an article by Douglas Cuevas published in Prensa Libre, a general Guatemalan newspaper that is headquartered in Guatemala City. It covers the modern topics of justice and politics, summarizing how as of last Friday (Feb. 18), there was only seven applicants for the Attorney General position – a severely reduced number when compared to other governmental applicant processes.
Why is this? According to the article, there is a wave of applicants that are holding out to submit their applications. Francisco Quezada, an analyst at the Center for National Economic Research, sums this up best by saying “the few candidates that have been seen does not mean there will be few options.” This is due to an estimation that there will be an influx of applications on the due date Monday, February 21st, because many will be trying to present their application last. It is not due to procrastination or something likewise, but rather a strategy to avoid being placed under the radar of the public – a public that very well has the capability to produce more scrutiny with more time. He calls it “a dirty game of politics,” where those applying are afraid of the public “not exhibiting the best of a candidate but the worst, or even raising falsehoods.” However, there is also another reason that is presented by Álvaro Montenegro, part of the Alliance for Reform movement. He validly brings up the point that the recent crackdown against corrupt lawyers and prosecutors and their past constitutional resolutions and criminal proceedings, keeping other judges and lawyers out of the mix of consideration in order to avoid possible problematic situations being uncovered regarding their integrity.
Overall, though this concerns the themes of justice and politics in a governmental sense, the idea of knowledge/information availability and accessibility presents itself in terms of its relation to society. Guatemala must have at least a decent amount of usable and reliable resources open to the public if there is such a fear-evoking environment created against historical malpractices by candidates.
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Prensa Libre Hemeroteca PL (2022). [The Nomination Commission for the election of the attorney general and head of the Public Ministry]. Prensa Libre. https://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/justicia/por-que-hay-pocos-candidatos-para-fiscal-general-y-que-se-espera-esta-semana-en-la-comision-de-postulacion-breaking/