In an interview with José Luis Sanz, published in El Faro, the former Guatemalan Human Rights Attorney, Jordán Rodas Andrade, believes that the opposition can still win the 2023 elections in Guatemala. He believes that there is enough outrage among the population to elect a progressive as President.
It has become a disturbing custom in Guatemala that a few hours after —and sometimes even before— leaving office, attorneys general, judges, or, in this case, the human rights ombudsman, secretly flee the country. They leave because they are afraid of being arrested under false charges as soon as they lose the immunity that came with their positions. In the past year, those who never enjoyed such protections —mid-level anti-corruption prosecutors, journalists, human rights defenders— have fled the country by the dozens, seeking protection in Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica, or even El Salvador.
Jordán Rodas says he’s not in exile. But he left Guatemala the day before the end of his term as the human rights ombudsman, passing quietly through Mexico and then into the U.S. by land on August 19. El Faro interviewed him in Washington, D.C., where he spent two weeks on a stopover before continuing to the European city where he plans to stay for now (he asked that the exact location not be disclosed). In other words: a lot of precautions for someone who says he’s not in exile.
Rodas claims, as have others before him, that he will soon return to Guatemala. In recent weeks, opposition parties have announced their first local alliances ahead of the June 2023 elections, and Rodas says that if a coalition of the Left and anti-corruption movements consolidates, he wants to run for congress, or maybe even president. If the voting is clean, he says, it will be possible to dislodge corrupt elites from power in Guatemala. Given that his candidacy for rector of San Carlos University, Guatemala’s politically influential public university, was thwarted in June with reports of fraud, his first challenge may be securing permission from election authorities to even register as a candidate.
You can read the full interview, with links, here, “If the elections are clean, a progressive victory is possible in Guatemala”.
It was originally published in Spanish, which can be found here, Jordán Rodas: “Tenemos hasta fin de año para concretar una candidatura única de oposición”
Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Presidential Elections
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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