CICIG and Guatemala

Some recent stories about CICIG from Prensa Libre (in Spanish) and the AP (in English).  NPR also has a short audio clip.  This weekend's news all follows the same script - document several successes and then note push back from those that CICIG is in pursuit of.

CICIG notable successes include trials against former President Alfonso Portillo, a son of ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt, an ex-defense minister, two former interior ministers, a prisons director, three national police chiefs and two anti-narcotics police commanders.  It has helped to bring about several important convictions against murderers, drug cartel enforcers and kidnappers, including members of Mexico's notoriously violent Zeta narco gang.  CICIG has also helped to remove 1,700 police officers, several senior prosecutors, and six judges from the Supreme Court.  Then there's that Rosenberg case.

However, the arrests of  former Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann and former prison chief Alejandro Giammattei have brought with them it significant disgruntlement from important and powerful sectors of Guatemala.  The criticism has recently even come from former vice president Eduardo Stein (2004-2008), an individual who helped bring the commission into Guatemala in the first place. 

Stein has accused CICIG of "going out of control" in pursuing charges of extra-judicial execution against Giammattei and Vielmann.  While photos place the men at the scene of the crime, the judge wasn't convinced and dropped the charge of extra-judicial execution for the lesser charge of illicit association.  Since then, "Stein and other businessmen have suggested the commission be put under local political control, arguing that it has overstepped its mandate and even operated outside the law."

I'm not sure what to make of this.  As I wrote in July I expected push back against CICIG.  Those with connections to organized crime were not going to go quietly away just because a Spaniard or Costa Rican told them to.  While we get these stories about elites unhappy with CICIG every few months, everyone is playing up these recent accusations.

So, what do you think?  Is this a sign that CICIG is working and should have its mandate extended two more years or is it another sign that the political and economic elite in Guatemala are not serious about rooting out corruption?  Or are these recent events a sign that CICIG should pack up and move to a country where there is legislative, executive, and business support for reform?