Guatemalan leader under pressure over lobbying firm

Guatemala’s president Jimmy Morales is under growing political pressure over two contracts with an Indiana lobbying firm closely linked to the US vice-president Mike Pence.

Opposition politicians have called on Morales to reveal his role in the $80,000-a-month contracts signed with Barnes & Thornburg, which appear to have been designed to sideline the state department and the Guatemalan foreign affairs ministry.

Barnes & Thornburg – which has extensive ties with the Republican party – was hired to improve relations between the governments of Guatemala and the US.

Source: The Guardian