Guatemalan Congress under magnification due to controversial bill

Without taking into account the hesitant voices on this project, the legislative committee responsible for the issue gave it the green light yesterday and it could be on the weekly agenda to be decided on Tuesday at the meeting of the heads of the bloc.

The various sectors consider that placing all relevant bodies under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment would focus on the authority and administrative, technical and financial functions.

They estimate that in the long run it will limit citizen participation, oversight, and transparency in resource management.

Although members of the Chamber agreed weeks ago to issue an unfavorable opinion due to the criticism, one of the biggest risks now is that political and non-technical norms prevail in environmental matters.

In the opinion of Luis Fernando Pineda, who voted against him, the proposal promoted by the President of Congress, Shirley Rivera, is aimed at “selecting institutions that have to do with environmental stewardship in the country to be subject to the discretion of the Minister’s shift”.

His approval would lead to the closure of the National Council of Conserved Areas and the State Conservation Area Control Office, the entities that monitor Lakes Atitlan, Amatitlan, Izabal Rio Dulce and Petén Itza, among others, he explained.

The portfolio today is led by Mario Rojas, brother of Representative Aníbal Rojas, who is close to the ruling party.

Analysts remember that after the Cybercrime Act was suspended last week, due to its broad disapproval, and the blocking of bill 6076, here called Anti-Protest, Congress will be on the verge of a new pulse.

For Mario Antonio Sandoval, this is a new attack on the country and the environment in danger.

“With initiative 6054 he wants to pass on to the useless Ministry of the Environment all the work that has been done in favor of the environment by many academic and private entities,” he warned in Catalejo’s column in the newspaper Prensa Libre.

Soon, the official steam control instrument will turn it into law and endanger forests, protected areas, river banks, lakes and industrial crops. Sandoval predicted that discretion would prevail and this would ensure corruption, through the ability to manage state funds, remove fines, and delegate contracts and permits.

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