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World|politics|September 3, 2015 / 05:08 PM
Guatemala president offers to quit as bribery arrest looms

AKIPRESS.COM - Otto Perez MolinaEmbattled Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina offered to resign on Wednesday as he faces arrest for alleged involvement in a bribery scandal, according to his spokesman.

Perez Molina, who proclaimed his innocence in a national address on Aug. 31, made the move to help protect the country’s institutions, spokesman Jorge Ortega said in a text message. The offer came as Guatemala prepares for the first round of presidential elections on Sept. 6, which has been overshadowed by the crisis hitting Perez Molina’s government.

Congressional leaders will meet in an emergency session at 9 a.m. EST to discuss the offer, which requires legislative approval. Congress voted 132-0 earlier this week to strip Perez Molina, whose term expires Jan. 14, of immunity from prosecution. The president has agreed to appear at court Thursday to hear the charges against him, his attorney Cesar Calderon said.

Perez Molina, a 64-year-old former general who helped end a civil war in the 1990s, has been under increasing pressure to quit as a series of corruption allegations forced him to fire or accept the resignation of his closest aides and ministers. About 70,000 people turned out at a rally last week calling on him to step down. His former vice president and the central bank president are both in jail, awaiting trial, in separate corruption scandals.

The political crisis is unlikely to have a big impact on the $59 billion economy, according to Franco Uccelli, an emerging markets analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Miami. Guatemala, which exports coffee, textiles and gold, also serves as a gateway between Latin America and the U.S. for migrants and drugs.

“The economy has sustained the blow reasonably well,” Uccelli said in a phone interview ahead of the president’s decision. “Once political turmoil dissipates the economic policy will take center stage and people will realize that the impact wasn’t so severe.” - Bloomberg

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