Sweden recalls ambassador to Guatemala amid tensions over UN probes

Sweden has recalled its ambassador to Guatemala ‘for consultations,’ the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Sunday, amid a dispute over its support for a UN-run organization probing the campaign financing of President Jimmy Morales.

‘The background to the decision is the political situation in the country and the current state of our current bilateral relations with Guatemala,’ Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a brief statement.

The decision to recall ambassador Anders Kompass should be seen as ‘a signal to Guatemala,’ she added. A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Stockholm had no further comment.

Sweden is a major donor to the UN-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) that has been a bone of contention in the Central American country.

Last month, the government ordered the CICIG to leave the country but the decision was reversed by Guatemala's Constitutional Court.

The independent anti-corruption body has been supporting Guatemala in its fight against corruption and organized crime for over a decade.

CICIG investigations have implicated dozens of government officials and also brought down former president Otto Perez Molina in 2015.

It has also been probing incumbent Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales's campaign financing, and has rejected claims by the government that it had violated Guatemalan laws.

Guatemala in May requested that Sweden should replace Kompass, alleging at the time he had interfered in the country's internal affairs.

Kompass was named ambassador to Guatemala in October 2017. He has previously worked at several UN human rights offices in Latin America, and at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.