The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday, June 2 that the arrest warrant issued by a Guatemala Chamber against the Attorney General of Colombia and a former defense minister “lacks legal support” and “constitutes an attack against the fundamental principles of international justice.”
“This action, which lacks legal support, constitutes an attack against the fundamental principles of international justice. This measure not only represents a serious deviation from the standards of international law, but also violates fundamental human rights,” the Foreign Ministry denounced through a statement.
The Government expressed its “deep concern and energetic rejection” to the decision of the Third Appeals Chamber of the Guatemalan Judicial Agency, which ordered the capture of the attorney general of Colombia, Luz Adriana Camargo, and the former Minister and Designation of Colombia before the Vatican, Iván Velásquez, for alleged irregularities during his work in the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig).
This Appeals Chamber, which has been questioned by various experts in judicial matters in other cases, gave the green light to the request for detention against Camargo and Velásquez, raised by the Guatemalan Public Ministry in the case of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, according to local media.
According to Guatemalan prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, Velásquez, when he was in charge of the CICIG, allowed the approval of anomalous cooperation agreements with two Brazilian executives of Odebrecht in 2017.
Judicial cooperation must be transparent
The Colombian Foreign Ministry insisted on the statement that “the use of international judicial cooperation mechanisms requires a solid probative basis and transparent procedures, conditions that are clearly not fulfilled in this case.”
“The Colombian government reaffirms its commitment to international respect and law, judicial independence and cooperation between states. However, it warns that these principles cannot be misrepresented or used as instruments of political or personal persecution, or to justify decisions lacking legitimacy,” said the message.
Given this situation, the Ministry added, the Executive has activated the corresponding diplomatic channels to formally express their rejection before the Guatemalan authorities.
“Colombia is confident that the international community will know how to recognize this situation as part of a worrying instrumentalization of international judicial mechanisms, contrary to the spirit of legality, cooperation and justice that must prevail in relations between states,” concluded the Foreign Ministry.
In 2023, the Public Ministry of Guatemala had already announced that it would undertake legal actions against Velásquez for its management at the head of the CICIG, within the framework of the corruption case linked to Odebrecht, and the same warning had extended to Camargo.
That episode tense relations between the two countries, since the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, warned that diplomatic ties with the Central American country, at that time governed by Alejandro Giammattei, would be affected if the Prosecutor’s Office continued with legal actions against Velásquez, who at that time was his defense minister.
The CICIG, under the command of Velásquez and with the participation of Camargo, dismantled between 2014 and 2019 more than a hundred corruption structures within the State, mostly headed by politicians, businessmen and officials.
In 2024, the UN reminded the authorities of Guatemala that foreign officials who were part of the CICIG continue to enjoy immunity, by virtue of the agreement that was established by that body.