Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa: Prominent Anti-Corruption Lawyer in Guatemala Assassinated

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

In Guatemala, the popular anti-corruption district attorney Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa was fatally shot in addition to another male Saturday in a sports center in Guatemala. He was shot more than 50 times in front of his 14-year-old child. He was understood for his anti-corruption work as head of the Criminal Investigations Directorate within the general public Prosecutor’s Office, later on as head of Guatemala’s tax authority, when he assisted prosecute lots of effective Guatemalan service figures.

The Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo condemned the attack. Guatemalan authorities have actually apparently apprehended 2 guys in connection with the attack.

On Sunday night, I talked to his mom, Silvia Solórzano Foppa.

AMY GOODMAN: Silvia, my inmost acknowledgements on the death of your kid. Can you inform us who he was?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: Juan Francisco was a young legal representative originating from a background of pro-democracy and innovative activists. He went far for himself in a couple of federal government functions, however primarily at the general public Prosecutor’s Office. That’s the firm that prosecutes criminal activities? The courts can choose later on. He was there throughout a time when drug trafficking was surging, and specifically gang violence and unsolved murders. The gang issue in Guatemala, together with El Salvador, ended up being exceptionally unsafe, with individuals being eliminated each and every single day. Bus chauffeurs were being assaulted, either obtained or eliminated. He dealt with those cases for over 10 years, making a great deal of experience and regard along the method.

AMY GOODMAN: What does your boy’s assassination mean to individuals of Guatemala?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: Well, that’s simply it. He represents the reality that things can be done right, that defending justice is possible. He likewise held a public post at the tax administration workplace– handling taxes, simply put. And there, he handled to gather taxes, consisting of from those who utilized to conceal their cash and decline to pay. And that revealed individuals that you can truly work for the public excellent, stand up for what’s reasonable, and do things. That’s what made a name for him when he was still so young? He was simply 30 at the time.

AMY GOODMAN: The president has actually required a complete examination into the murder of your child. What would that appear like? What are you requiring, Silvia?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: For that specific factor. I suggest, it is the justice system’s obligation to bring out the examination? The president comes from the executive branch, so he’s asking the justice system to do it. And today the justice system is really, extremely compromised. It isn’t providing the outcomes that we, individuals, anticipate.

Dark forces are at work, and it actually appears like they desire to stir up an entire other set of issues for the federal government. Guatemala has elections turning up in 6 months, indicating we’re in a pre-election environment. Stimulating stress and anxiety and discontent like this has actually occurred before. It’s part of producing pre-election confusion and insecurity.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you speak about the function of the United States returning to 1954, when they supported the coup versus Jacobo Árbenz, and what the U.S. has indicated to individuals of Guatemala ever since, in this last 60– more than 60 years?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: We are too near the United States. Sometimes, they feel as though the area comes from them, wishing to make choices for us and overlooking the will of the Guatemalan individuals. Or often they choose which president they wish to set up to serve their own company interests. And I think that a person of the important things that, in addition to Israel, has actually triggered one of the most damage is the enormous increase of Pentecostal churches. They brought them in with the objective of stopping the increase of a more progressive Catholic Church, changing it with a church that is much more secondary, a lot more subservient, actually, to financial interests. Therefore, there is an existence throughout the board, ideologically, financially, militarily. We are merely too near to the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: You have actually lost both your moms and dads, 2 of your siblings, and now your only child. What offers you the strength to continue?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: My daddy set the example. My mother got included later on. And ultimately, everyone siblings and sis did, too. That’s why I feel such a strong dedication to them.

AMY GOODMAN: I am taking a look at a photo behind you. Is that your mom? And the photos above your head, can you inform us who they are?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: The big one is my sis, and the ones up above are my kids and my grandchildren. Up top are my kids and grandkids.

AMY GOODMAN: What message do you need to individuals of the United States and around the globe on today of the wake and the funeral service for your boy?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: Well, like you asked, it truly boils down to the dedication to keep defending a much better Guatemala, for a genuine democracy. That’s something we, Guatemalans, wish to develop on our own, without disturbance from Israel, the U.S. or any other country. And part of that democracy indicates appreciating our natural deposits, our rivers, our volcanoes, our land, our nickel, our oil. Even if they’re percentages, they are ours. And they keep being removed away, not simply by the United States and other nations.

In other words, we have the right to develop our own democracy and our own kind of federal government without outdoors forces meddling and without them pushing irregular forces, who really likely, as in the case of my child’s murder, are the ones pulling the strings? Since it isn’t straight the authorities; it isn’t straight the armed force. Rather, there are other armed groups, armed groups trafficking weapons from the United States, armed groups that may be smuggling drugs and bringing weapons. That isn’t a brand-new story on this continent, however these groups are extremely frequently backed by effective sectors within the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: How is your grand son, who was with your boy when he was assassinated this weekend at a soccer arena?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: Well, we were looking after him. He will succeed, however today we’re looking after him.

AMY GOODMAN: How old is he?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: Fourteen.

AMY GOODMAN: Exists anything else you wish to include?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: No. Simply to state thank you. And I believe it’s constantly an excellent chance to make it understood that, well, in our nations, there vary concepts, various viewpoints, which, well, there are households who are combating to construct a much better nation here in Guatemala.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa’s mom Silvia, talking to us from Guatemala City, where we go now.

We’re signed up with by Roman Gressier, editor of El Faro EnglishHe’s likewise the host of the podcast Central America in MinutesThe wake and the funeral service today and tomorrow, the president, Arévalo, will exist. He is related by marital relationship, as well, to Juan, who was gunned down in front of his 14-year-old young boy as they played. I think they were playing soccer, or they remained in a soccer arena.

Roman, in these last 2 minutes, speak about the significance of this assassination.

ROMAN GRESSIER: Hi. Of all, thank you for having me back on the program. And my acknowledgements, mi pésameto Silvia, the Solórzano Foppa household and those who understood him.

We discovered of his assassination in the middle of the Central American Journalism Forum this weekend, which I believe is necessary, since he was a source to us in stories this year on the mob in Guatemala, and likewise to more associates in the nation. And I believe that’s essential context. He’s someone who, in years of exile or jail, for district attorneys and anti-corruption voices, he was powerful. He existed. I fulfilled him in the streets in 2021 while he was objecting corruption. Which was definitely leading of mind for everybody. We were considering it not just as an assassination, however likewise having a deep impact on liberty of expression. And as Silvia pointed out– she covered the political context– we do have elections showing up next year. This was all front and center for us.

AMY GOODMAN: And the significance of this guy who battles versus corruption, for taxing the elite, and in the recentlies was publishing on YouTube criticisms of the U.S. CIA in relation to assassinations in Guatemala?

ROMAN GRESSIER: Yeah, that’s. He established a social networks existence discussing arranged criminal offense. Keep in mind, as you stated in the program, he’s someone who ran the Directorate of Criminal Intelligence for the general public Prosecutor’s Office, so he’s someone with a particular base of understanding and contacts. And previously this year, he revealed on social networks– he exposed– that a string of leaders of the 18th Street, or Barrio 18, gang, a few of whom he, by the method, had actually assisted put in jail, some leaders of this gang, they had actually had the ability to get away jail, and he implicated federal government authorities of having actually conspired with them. He established a really prominent existence online for that.

And in current weeks, in late September, there was the murder of 8 individuals in Huité, Zacapa, which remains in rural Guatemala. And there had actually been lots of variations of occasions. This is a criminal offense that has actually not been clarified. Locals in Huité have actually implicated members of the DEA of forming part of the group who performed these murders. And Solórzano Foppa, who in Guatemala is frequently simply called Foppa, he published online 2 days before his murder that there were possible, quote,”CIA mercenaries,” unquote, who might have been included. Therefore, that was one open flank of lots of that he dealt with.

And it is real that he was killed on a soccer field in front of his child, along with another guy. And the interior minister has currently stated that the 2nd person, Gustavo Aguilar, was a– basically, he was a casualty, however the target was Foppa himself.

AMY GOODMAN: He had guard with him usually. Is that right, Roman? He comprehended he was under– in truth, he had actually concerned the United States for a couple of weeks in 2015 due to the fact that he was worried about a possible assassination.

ROMAN GRESSIER: I can’t talk to his individual security information, however what I can state is that he and other leading anti-corruption and anti-mafia district attorneys did deal with those threats. They were genuine. Much of his previous associates remain in exile. A few of them went to jail. He himself was sent to prison for protecting Guatemala’s leading publisher, José Rubén Zamora, and accepted charges while they were criminalizing his defense lawyer. He was someone who was really much present, included. And it holds true that he and others dealt with exile, jail, death risks.

AMY GOODMAN: That case, in which he served on the defense group of Guatemalan reporter José Rubén Zamora, can you discuss that case?

ROMAN GRESSIER: Yeah. Basically, José Rubén Zamora was detained over 4 years earlier now, and he was charged on several– he was charged for cash laundering. He was later on charged with blockage of justice. And there were cases and cases that were overdone top of each other in the Zamora case. And it was a case that was worldwide knocked, condemned by numerous global legal representatives’ associations with extreme legal observation.

And part of that criminalization versus Zamora included attacks versus his lawyers for blockage of justice and other charges. And there were– we’re speaking about nearly a lots defense lawyer who left the case under hazards of criminalization or real criminalization. Which’s where Foppa entered into play.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you speak about the significance of this assassination occurring less than a year before Guatemala’s next election?

ROMAN GRESSIER: Yes. There’s something I wish to clarify. The 2 guys who were detained and implicated by authorities of having actually performed his murder have actually given that been launched. There was a hearing this weekend, and they discovered that there was no premises to have actually apprehended the males. And it’s likewise possible that the authorities themselves who performed the arrests might be based on examination. The examination is under seal, and the general public Prosecutor’s Office has actually asked for FBI support in order to examine.

And this all takes place in the run-up to elections. The 2023 elections were ruined by the existence of the mob. The president-elect himself dealt with dangers, death– assassination plots, that were knocked before the Inter-American Commission. In Guatemala, what may appear like elections, on one hand, and arranged criminal activity, on another, are frequently extremely carefully linked. That is really front and center, as Silvia Solórzano Foppa likewise pointed out.

AMY GOODMAN: Roman Gressier, I wish to thank you a lot for being with us, editor of El Faro English

ROMAN GRESSIER: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!democracynow.org. We will likewise have an interview in Spanish and publish it at democracynow.org. Once again, on this day after the weekend where Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa has actually been assassinated, a leading previous anti-corruption district attorney. Roman was speaking with us from Guatemala City.