Guatemalan anti-graft crusader flees nation after being stripped of Post-World News, Firstpost

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Guatemala’s human rights ombudsman mentioned Juan Francisco Sandoval fled the rustic early on Saturday, simply hours after he was once expelled in a transfer that sparked global outrage.

Jordan Rodas, the rustic’s human rights ombudsman, mentioned Sandoval, who had led the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor’s Office in opposition to Impunity (FECI) till Friday, fled to the Salvadoran border within the early hours of Saturday.

“The decision was made to save his life,” Rodas instructed Reuters.

Guatemala’s lawyer common, Maria Porras, disregarded the corruption prosecutor from his submit on Friday, prompting US grievance that the transfer was once a setback for the guideline of regulation.

The unit was once at the beginning set as much as deal with investigations led by way of the UN-backed International Commission to Combat Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which was once expelled from the rustic in 2019.

Sandoval’s dismissal sparked a backlash from US officers, together with Samantha Power, the director of the USA Agency for International Development (USAID).

“The dismissal of Prosecutor General Porras, the anti-corruption hero Juan Francisco Sandoval, is an outrageous move,” she wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Civil society organizations in Guatemala mentioned they’re making plans demonstrations on Saturday afternoon to protest Sandoval’s removing and departure.

(Reporting by way of Sofia Mincho in Guatemala City; Writing by way of Laura Gotzdiner; Editing by way of Matthew Lewis and Diane Kraft)

This tale has no longer been edited by way of the Firstpost team and was once generated by way of an automated feed.