*Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arévalo has fired the country’s minister for communications, infrastructure, & housing (CIV), Jazmín de la Vega. He said that the decision owed to the fact that she had failed to fulfil his instructions and had authorised payments to construction firms outside of agreed procedures. A former national deputy (1996-1998), who served in the unit for construction of state buildings (UCEE) under former president Óscar Berger (2004-2008), De la Vega has close links to the country’s leading private sector lobby, Cacif, and the national chamber of construction (CGC). She is the second minister to be fired since President Arévalo, who won the 2023 run-off election by a landslide on the pledge to tackle corruption, took office mid-January. He fired Environment Minister María José Iturbide last month after media reports that Iturbe’s daughter had used ministry vehicles and security for personal use. Arévalo has yet to name a replacement for De la Vega.
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