Guatemala court backs UN ant-graft chief against president

In a blunt rebuke to President Jimmy Morales, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court ordered that the head of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption commission be let back in the country two weeks after Morales barred him as he moved to defang the investigative body.

The unanimous ruling late Sunday by the court’s five magistrates marked the second time in as many years that the court has reversed Morales’ efforts to keep Ivan Velasquez out of Guatemala.

The commission’s chairman has pressed a number of high-profile graft probes, including one pending against the president himself.

There was no immediate public reaction from the president. His spokesman, Alfredo Brito, did not respond to phone calls Sunday night seeking comment.

Morales announced in late August that he would not renew the mandate of the commission for another two-year term, effectively giving it a year to wind down and end its activities.

A few days later the president said that Velasquez, a Colombian national who was in Washington at the time, would be prohibited from re-entering this Central American nation. Morales called him “a person who attacks order and public security in the country.”

Morales’ order touched off public protests in support of the body, and multiple appeals were promptly filed with the Constitutional Court.