Anti-corruption prosecutor praised by US flees Guatemala

Anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval has fled Guatemala, arriving in neighboring El Salvador just hours after he was removed from his post

LAS CHINAMAS, El Salvador -- Anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval fled Guatemala late Friday, arriving in neighboring El Salvador just hours after he was removed from his post. Consuelo Porras, Guatemala’s attorney general, had accused the former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity of “abuses” without specifying what they were. Sandoval said he was fired because of his investigations into top officials in the administration of President Alejandro Giammattei. He said he had fled for his own safety, becoming the fifth law enforcement official in three years to do so. “Sadly, this has become a situation that many public servants in Guatemala have had to go through simply because we are not useful for the regime,” Sandoval said.