The prominent Guatemalan anti-corruption lawyer Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa was fatally shot along with another man on Saturday at a sports center in Guatemala City. For years, Solórzano Foppa had been outspoken against Guatemala’s most powerful politicians, business leaders and companies. He was known for his anti-corruption work as head of the Criminal Investigations Directorate within the Public Prosecutor’s Office and later as head of Guatemala’s tax authority, when he helped prosecute dozens of powerful Guatemalan business figures.

“In more recent years, he developed a social media presence, and he was forcefully denouncing corruption,” says Roman Gressier, a journalist based in Guatemala City. “We were thinking about [the killing of Solórzano Foppa] not only as an assassination, but also having a deep effect on freedom of expression.”

“Juan Francisco was a young lawyer coming from a background of pro-democracy and revolutionary activists,” says Silvia Solórzano Foppa, Juan Francisco’s mother. Her son was 43 years old when he was killed.

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

In Guatemala, the prominent anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa was fatally shot along with another man Saturday in a sports center in Guatemala. He was shot more than 50 times in front of his 14-year-old son. He was known for his anti-corruption work as head of the Criminal Investigations Directorate within the Public Prosecutor’s Office, later as head of Guatemala’s tax authority, when he helped prosecute dozens of powerful Guatemalan business figures.

The Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo condemned the attack. Guatemalan authorities have reportedly detained two men in connection with the attack.

On Sunday night, I spoke to his mother, Silvia Solórzano Foppa.

AMY GOODMAN: Silvia, my deepest condolences on the death of your son. Can you tell us who he was?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: [translated] Juan Francisco was a young lawyer coming from a background of pro-democracy and revolutionary activists. He made a name for himself in a few government roles, but mainly at the Public Prosecutor’s Office. That’s the agency that prosecutes crimes, right? So the courts can decide later on. But he was there during a time when drug trafficking was spiking, and especially gang violence and unsolved murders. The gang problem in Guatemala, along with El Salvador, became extremely dangerous, with people being killed every single day. Bus drivers were being attacked, either extorted or killed. He worked on those cases for over 10 years, earning a lot of experience and respect along the way.

AMY GOODMAN: What does your son’s assassination mean to the people of Guatemala?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: [translated] Well, that’s just it. He represents the fact that things can be done right, that fighting for justice is possible. He also held a public post at the tax administration office — dealing with taxes, in other words. And there, he managed to collect taxes, including from those who used to hide their money and refuse to pay. And that showed people that you can really work for the public good, stand up for what’s fair, and do things right. That’s what made a name for him when he was still so young, right? He was just 30 at the time.

AMY GOODMAN: The president has called for a full investigation into the murder of your son. What would that look like? What are you calling for, Silvia?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: [translated] For that exact reason. I mean, it is the justice system’s responsibility to carry out the investigation, right? The president belongs to the executive branch, so he’s asking the justice system to do it. And right now the justice system is very, very weakened. It isn’t delivering the results that we, the people, expect.

On top of that, dark forces are at work, and it really seems like they want to stir up a whole other set of problems for the government. Guatemala has elections coming up in six months, meaning we’re in a pre-election climate. Stirring up anxiety and unrest like this has happened before. It’s part of creating pre-election confusion and insecurity.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the role of the United States going back to 1954, when they supported the coup against Jacobo Árbenz, and what the U.S. has meant to the people of Guatemala since then, in this last 60 — more than 60 years?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: [translated] We are too close to the United States. At times, they feel as though the territory belongs to them, wanting to make decisions for us and disregarding the will of the Guatemalan people. Or sometimes they decide which president they want to install to serve their own business interests. And I believe that one of the things that, along with Israel, has caused the most harm is the massive influx of Pentecostal churches. They brought them in with the intention of halting the rise of a more progressive Catholic Church, replacing it with a church that is far more subordinate, much more subservient, really, to economic interests. And so, there is a presence across the board, ideologically, economically, militarily. We are simply too close to the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: You have lost both your parents, two of your brothers, and now your only son. What gives you the strength to carry on?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: [translated] My dad set the example first. My mom got involved later. And eventually, all of us brothers and sisters did, too. That’s why I feel such a strong commitment to them.

AMY GOODMAN: I am looking at a picture behind you. Is that your mother? And the pictures above your head, can you tell us who they are?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: [translated] The large one is my sister, and the ones up above are my children and my grandchildren. Up top are my kids and grandkids.

AMY GOODMAN: What message do you have to the people of the United States and around the world on this week of the wake and the funeral for your son?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: [translated] Well, like you asked, it really comes down to the commitment to keep fighting for a better Guatemala, for a real democracy. That’s something we, Guatemalans, want to create on our own, without interference from Israel, the U.S. or any other nation. And part of that democracy means respecting our natural resources, our rivers, our volcanoes, our land, our nickel, our oil. Even if they’re small amounts, they are ours. And they keep being stripped away, not just by the United States and other countries.

In other words, we have the right to build our own democracy and our own form of government without outside forces meddling and without them emboldening irregular forces, who very likely, as in the case of my son’s murder, are the ones pulling the strings, right? Because it isn’t directly the police; it isn’t directly the military. Rather, there are other armed groups, armed groups trafficking weapons from the United States, armed groups that might be smuggling drugs and bringing weapons. That isn’t a new story on this continent, but these groups are very often backed by powerful sectors within the United States, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: And finally, how is your grandson, who was with your son when he was assassinated this weekend at a soccer stadium?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: Well, we were taking care of him. He will do well, but right now we’re taking care of him.

AMY GOODMAN: How old is he?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: Fourteen.

AMY GOODMAN: Is there anything else you would like to add?

SILVIA SOLÓRZANO FOPPA: No. [translated] Just to say thank you. And I think it’s always a good opportunity to make it known that, well, in our countries, there are diverse ideas, different points of views, and that, well, there are families who are fighting to build a better country here in Guatemala.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa’s mother Silvia, speaking to us from Guatemala City, where we go now.

We’re joined by Roman Gressier, editor of El Faro English. He’s also the host of the podcast Central America in Minutes. The wake and the funeral today and tomorrow, the president, Arévalo, will be there. Also, he is related by marriage, as well, to Juan, who was gunned down in front of his 14-year-old boy as they played. I believe they were playing soccer, or they were in a soccer stadium.

Roman, in these last two minutes, talk about the significance of this assassination.

ROMAN GRESSIER: Hi. First of all, thank you for having me back on the show. And my condolences, mi pésame, to Silvia, the Solórzano Foppa family and those who knew him.

We learned of his assassination in the middle of the Central American Journalism Forum this weekend, which I think is important, because he was a source to us in stories this year on organized crime in Guatemala, and also to more colleagues in the country. And I think that’s important context. He’s somebody who, in years of exile or prison, for prosecutors and anti-corruption voices, he was forceful. He was present. I met him in the streets in 2021 while he was protesting corruption. And that was certainly top of mind for all of us. We were thinking about it not only as an assassination, but also having a deep effect on freedom of expression. And as Silvia mentioned — she covered the political context — we do have elections coming up next year. This was all front and center for us.

AMY GOODMAN: And the significance of this man who fights against corruption, for taxing the elite, and in the last weeks was posting on YouTube criticisms of the U.S. CIA in relation to assassinations in Guatemala?

ROMAN GRESSIER: Yeah, that’s right. He developed a social media presence commenting on organized crime. Remember, as you said in the program, he’s somebody who ran the Directorate of Criminal Intelligence for the Public Prosecutor’s Office, so he’s somebody with a certain base of knowledge and contacts. And earlier this year, he announced on social media — he revealed — that a string of leaders of the 18th Street, or Barrio 18, gang, some of whom he, by the way, had helped put in prison, some leaders of this gang, they had been able to escape prison, and he accused government officials of having colluded with them. So, he developed a very high-profile presence online for that.

And in recent weeks, in late September, there was the murder of eight people in Huité, Zacapa, which is in rural Guatemala. And there had been many versions of events. This is a crime that has not been clarified. But residents in Huité have accused members of the DEA of forming part of the group who carried out these murders. And Solórzano Foppa, who in Guatemala is often just called Foppa, he posted online two days before his murder that there were possible, quote, ”CIA mercenaries,” unquote, who could have been involved. And so, that was one open flank of many that he faced.

And it is true that he was murdered on a soccer field in front of his son, along with another man, as well. And the interior minister has already said that the second individual, Gustavo Aguilar, was a — essentially, he was a casualty, but the target was Foppa himself.

AMY GOODMAN: He had security guards with him almost always. Is that right, Roman? He understood he was under — in fact, he had come to the United States for a few weeks last year because he was concerned about a possible assassination.

ROMAN GRESSIER: I can’t speak to his personal security detail, but what I can say is that he and other top anti-corruption and anti-mafia prosecutors did face those risks. They were real. Many of his former colleagues are in exile. Some of them went to prison. He himself was imprisoned for defending Guatemala’s top publisher, José Rubén Zamora, and accepted charges while they were criminalizing his defense attorneys. So, he was somebody who was very much present, involved. And it is true that he and others faced exile, prison, death threats.

AMY GOODMAN: That case, in which he served on the defense team of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, can you explain that case?

ROMAN GRESSIER: Yeah. Essentially, José Rubén Zamora was arrested over four years ago now, and he was charged on multiple — he was charged for money laundering. He was later charged with obstruction of justice. And there were cases and cases that were piled on top of each other in the Zamora case. And it was a case that was internationally denounced, condemned by multiple international lawyers’ associations with intense legal observation.

And part of that criminalization against Zamora involved attacks against his attorneys for obstruction of justice and other charges. And there were — we’re talking about almost a dozen defense attorneys who left the case under threats of criminalization or actual criminalization. And that’s where Foppa came into play.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the significance of this assassination taking place less than a year before Guatemala’s next election?

ROMAN GRESSIER: Yes. There’s something I want to clarify. The two men who were arrested and accused by police of having carried out his murder have since been released. There was a hearing this weekend, and they found that there was no grounds to have detained the men. And it’s also possible that the police themselves who carried out the arrests could be subject to investigation. The investigation is under seal, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested FBI assistance in order to investigate.

And this all occurs in the run-up to elections. The 2023 elections were marred by the presence of organized crime. The president-elect himself faced threats, death — assassination plots, that were denounced before the Inter-American Commission. So, in Guatemala, what might seem like elections, on one hand, and organized crime, on another, are often very closely intertwined. So, that is very front and center, as Silvia Solórzano Foppa also mentioned.

AMY GOODMAN: Roman Gressier, I want to thank you so much for being with us, editor of El Faro English.

ROMAN GRESSIER: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. We will also have an interview in Spanish and post it at democracynow.org. Again, on this day after the weekend where Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa has been assassinated, a leading former anti-corruption prosecutor. Roman was speaking to us from Guatemala City.