Grahame Russell and Michael Bakal write in Truthout,prior to the elections, on the fears and uncertainties revolving around an election which harnesses hope in the struggle against the corrupt elites, and those who facilitate them. These fears and uncertainties are not unreasonably based on previous and well financed involvement by the US and Canada in the undermining of democracy in Guatemala wherever and whenever it has tried to flourish.
Guatemala has received an unusual amount of international media attention in recent months, thanks to its historic elections as well as brazen elite efforts to overturn them.
On June 25, to the shock of most Guatemalans and international observers, opposition party Movimiento Semilla (“seed movement”) finished second place in first-round elections, forcing a runoff against the establishment Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza party, known as UNE, headed by Sandra Torres, a longtime political operative who was arrested in 2015 in connection with allegations of illegal campaign financing. This is the first time in recent history that an opposition party has mounted a serious challenge to Guatemala’s deeply encrusted military and economic elite.
In response to the first round’s surprise results, the “Covenant of the Corrupt” — an alliance of corrupt judges, prosecutors and politicians, and economic and military elites who run the country — has been carrying out January 6-like attacks on the Semilla party and the electoral process itself. The stakes of the upcoming August 20 election could not be higher for the democratic aspirations of the Guatemalan people, as they attempt to cast off the yoke of more than seven decades of repressive rule. The outcome will also likely lead to a tectonic shift in power dynamics throughout the region, either re-entrenching oligarchic rule, or opening a new space for participatory democracy.
You can read the full piece, with links and photos, here, US, Canada-Backed Guatemalan Elites Threaten Coup Amid Opposition Party Runoff.
Grahame Russell is director of Rights Action and their ongoing election blog can be read here, Guatemala Election Watch. Michael Bakal is director of Voces y Manos.
Categories: Corruption, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Presidential Elections, Solidarity in Action, Violence
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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