Guatemalan justice system arrests Swiss coffee trader
Published: Monday, Jul 8th 2024, 11:10
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The police in Guatemala arrested a Swiss coffee trader in June. The man is currently under house arrest. The Swiss Foreign Ministry has confirmed a corresponding report in the Tamedia newspapers.
A spokesperson for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Monday that it was aware of the case and was providing the man with consular protection.
According to its own statement, the FDFA is in contact with the Guatemalan authorities and is following the case closely. For reasons of data protection, it is unable to provide any information on the content of the discussions.
Commitment to small farmers
The proceedings against the Swiss national were first reported on Monday by the newspapers of the media company Tamedia. The man arrested is the general director of the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Guatemalan Coffee Producers (Fedecocagua).
The association campaigns for the interests of small farmers in the Central American country. Associates of the man therefore suspect a political motive behind the criminal proceedings. According to the article, the Guatemalan judiciary is accusing the 68-year-old of tax offenses.
The accusations against the coffee trader were fabricated, the Tamedia newspapers quoted the former Swiss ambassador to Guatemala, Thomas Kolly. There is absolutely no doubt that he is innocent.
Not the first arrest
According to the media report, the Swiss national was already in prison for five months last year. At the time, he was accused of money laundering and Fedecocagua accounts were frozen.
At the time, Switzerland had intervened with a demarche to the Guetemala authorities and pointed out the impending consequences for indigenous coffee producers. As a result, some accounts were released, the FDFA confirmed on Monday. However, a large number of bank accounts and assets remain frozen.
Sanctions against judicial officials
It was only in April that the Federal Council decided to adopt EU sanctions against Guatemala. These include entry bans against representatives of the country's judiciary.
The punitive measures were taken in response to attempts by high-ranking judicial officials to undermine the rule of law and declare the victory of left-wing candidate Bernardo Arévalo in the 2023 presidential elections invalid, writes the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on its website.
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