President Alvaro Colom has fired his interior minister for alleged corruption and replaced him with a former journalist. Colom says he found irregularities in a contract signed by Interior Minister Raul Velasquez to buy fuel for Guatemala’s national police. Colom announced he was firing Velasquez in a televised message to the nation Feb. 28. Local media say that Velasquez authorized a USD6.2 million contract with a private company to buy fuel for police but that the company embezzled the money. Colom replaced Velasquez with Carlos Menocal, a former journalist who was a presidential commissioner responsible for combating organized crime and corruption. (AP)
Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).
