In ordering Mr. Velásquez out, Mr. Morales is also openly defying the United Nations and the United States, which have repeatedly supported the prosecutor’s decision to focus the panel’s work on tackling corruption. Whether Guatemalans will flood the central square with the same determination to hold Mr. Morales to account is uncertain, but the reaction was quick from supporters of the anticorruption battle. And at first Mr. Morales appeared to support the changes, particularly a judicial overhaul that was to be their centerpiece. When Mr. Velásquez and Ms. Aldana announced an investigation that implicated the president’s son and brother in a scheme to falsify receipts, Mr. Morales stopped cooperating with the anticorruption commission, although he did not try then to block the investigation. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyAs rumors swirled this past week that Mr. Morales might seek to remove Mr. Velásquez, social media erupted in the prosecutors’ defense.

Source: New York Times August 27, 2017 19:02 UTC