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Guatemala president under pressure over lobbying firm linked to Mike Pence
Source: The Guardian
Guatemala president under pressure over lobbying firm linked to Mike Pence
• Jimmy Morales urged to reveal role in contracts signed with Indiana firm
• Barnes & Thornburg hired to improve relations between Guatemala and US
Nina Lakhani in Guatemala City
Friday 23 June 2017 11.00 BST
Guatemala’s president Jimmy Morales is under growing political pressure over two contracts with an Indiana lobbying firm closely linked to the US vice-president Mike Pence.
Opposition politicians have called on Morales to reveal his role in the $80,000-a-month contracts signed with Barnes & Thornburg LLP, which appear to have been designed to sideline the state department and the Guatemalan foreign affairs ministry.
Barnes & Thornburg – which has extensive ties with the Republican party – was hired to improve relations between the governments of Guatemala and the US, but it remains unclear who funded the contract, which was signed by politicians without the authority to intervene in foreign affairs.
On Thursday, the US ambassador to Guatemala was drawn into the controversy after he was caught on tape describing the four lawmakers who signed the contracts as “idiots”.
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• Jimmy Morales urged to reveal role in contracts signed with Indiana firm
• Barnes & Thornburg hired to improve relations between Guatemala and US
Nina Lakhani in Guatemala City
Friday 23 June 2017 11.00 BST
Guatemala’s president Jimmy Morales is under growing political pressure over two contracts with an Indiana lobbying firm closely linked to the US vice-president Mike Pence.
Opposition politicians have called on Morales to reveal his role in the $80,000-a-month contracts signed with Barnes & Thornburg LLP, which appear to have been designed to sideline the state department and the Guatemalan foreign affairs ministry.
Barnes & Thornburg – which has extensive ties with the Republican party – was hired to improve relations between the governments of Guatemala and the US, but it remains unclear who funded the contract, which was signed by politicians without the authority to intervene in foreign affairs.
On Thursday, the US ambassador to Guatemala was drawn into the controversy after he was caught on tape describing the four lawmakers who signed the contracts as “idiots”.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/23/guatemala-president-jimmy-morales-lobbying
