Pompeo takes on Guatemalan corruption at last, Ukraine’s renegade judges
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MAKE AMERICA BORINGLY PREDICTABLE AGAIN
I have no idea, as I write this, who will win the US presidential election. I sincerely hope, however, that – whoever it is – the president will return Washington to its traditional bipartisan support of democracy and anti-corruption campaigns around the world, rather than undermining them for short-term domestic advantage. From the oligarchs’ perspective, the Trump administration’s withdrawal of support for reform efforts in developing nations has been a real boon; for ordinary people desperate to improve their lives, it has been a betrayal.
One of the most dispiriting examples of this has been in Guatemala, where the US previously helped support far-reaching efforts to clean up administration in the country, and to provide justice for the victims of decades of misrule. Under Donald Trump, however, Washington focused far more on restricting immigration. As long as Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales – also a former TV star, coincidentally – helped the White House in its effort to stop foreigners moving to the United States, he had a free hand to do whatever else he liked. As a result, corrupt elites regained much of what they had lost.
- “Nothing mattered except stopping brown people from coming into this country,” one State Department adviser is quoted as saying here. “All of our other policies were just subordinate to that goal.”
And that’s why this announcement from Secretary of State Michael Pompeo felt so refreshing. Once upon a time (around, say, five years ago), we would have been profoundly unsurprised if the United States Department of State imposed sanctions on Central American officials credibly accused of corruption. But for this administration to do so feels like a long-comatose friend suddenly opening his eyes, saying he feels better, and asking for a cup of tea.