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The commission has already targeted his brother and son; both are awaiting trial. Now an investigation into illicit campaign financing points to Mr. Morales and his wealthy backers.<\/p>\n
The president has gone on the offensive, even defying the country\u2019s highest constitutional court in his attempt to throw out the international prosecutors leading the investigation.<\/p>\n
First, Mr. Morales first announced he would not renew the mandate of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, the special United Nations-backed body that has been helping the attorney general\u2019s office build cases since 2007. Then, last week, he barred the Colombian head of commission, Iv\u00e1n Vel\u00e1squez G\u00f3mez, from returning to the country.<\/p>\n
Mr. Morales wants to draw a line and make clear \u201cthat the fight against corruption is over,\u201d said Fernando Carrera, a former foreign minister of Guatemala under Mr. P\u00e9rez Molina.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s actions have left Guatemala at the brink of a constitutional crisis and threaten a backward slide into authoritarianism.<\/p>\n
The political maneuvers pale in the context of the battles and bombs that defined this Central American nation\u2019s brutal civil war, which ended with United Nations-backed peace accords in 1996. But the crisis threatens to extinguish the hope for an end to the endemic impunity that has long defined Guatemala \u2014 and which enthusiastic protesters believed they had finally buried three years ago.<\/p>\n
For years now, the United States has supported the prosecutions unequivocally, seeing in the effort a potential salve for the corruption that crippled the region\u2019s political and economic development \u2014 and fueled, at least in part, emigration by those looking for a better life.<\/p>\n
But under President Trump, the United States has taken a back seat during the current crisis, saying little about Mr. Morales\u2019s campaign against the investigators.<\/p>\n
A schism has emerged in the United States government, with career diplomats staunchly supporting the commission, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered what many found to be a weak statement of support for a reformed commission.<\/p>\n
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, like many supporters of the commission, expressed concern about the lukewarm American response.<\/p>\n
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Some former diplomats and experts have suggested the Trump administration is managing the impending crisis in Guatemala with caution, fearful of what might come after Mr. Morales if he is forced from office. But those same individuals warn that a Guatemala in chaos \u2014 one where there is practically no check on corruption \u2014 could hit Washington where it hurts the most: the flow of migrants leaving Guatemala for the United States.<\/p>\n
For now, the tepid response has empowered Mr. Morales to continue his broadsides, experts said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Morales\u2019s administration has also worked to ensure support for his presidency, and criticism of the commission, in Washington, signing lobbying contracts worth millions of dollars to influence Congress and the White House.<\/p>\n
Guatemala supported the Trump administration\u2019s decision to move the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem \u2014 and even followed suit, moving their own embassy there.<\/p>\n
Without the stalwart support of the United States, many have wondered if the protesters can muster the force they showed in 2015, when hundreds of thousands filled the capital for months.<\/p>\n
There is little evidence, for the moment, of collective action. But leaders of the movement also said they are being more strategic and targeted.<\/p>\n
The first protest took place Monday as indigenous groups filled the center of the city of Solol\u00e1 and blocked sections of the Pan-American Highway. More demonstrations are planned for the rest of the week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to support the work of the commission,\u201d said Javier Gramajo L\u00f3pez, a founder of Construir Pa\u00eds, one of the activist groups involved in the 2015 protests. \u201cBut instead of inciting people, we are calling for calm, waiting for the opportune moment, when we are organized.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, known as Cicig, first arrived in the country back in 2007 to assist the attorney general in rooting out government corruption networks, many of then linked to former military officers.<\/p>\n
The effort was backed by the United Nations, and donor governments funded much of its work. This included the United States, which has paid roughly half of its budget in recent years.<\/p>\n
Under the leadership of Mr. Vel\u00e1squez, who arrived in 2013, the commission hit its stride, revealing corruption schemes that ranged from the customs racket that brought down Mr. P\u00e9rez Molina to the manufacturing of fake passports, the creation of phantom congressional jobs, and the siphoning of funds from the capital\u2019s new bus system.<\/p>\n
Although investigations spanned various aspects of government, the fight has become a personal battle between two individuals: the circumspect Mr. Vel\u00e1squez, and Mr. Morales, a former comedian known for crude caricatures that include blackface.<\/p>\n
Mr. Vel\u00e1squez has shown a fierce determination to fulfill his mandate, going after the powerful to the point of confronting those responsible for authorizing his presence in the country. His approach has not always been popular; even those who applaud his work worry that an outsider bringing down corrupt officials in Guatemala is still a long way from enduring justice.<\/p>\n