Sandra Cuffe writes in Ojalá about the demonstrations taking place in Guatemala City in support of democracy and against the pacto de corruptos. These demonstrations are part of the national wave of strikes and blockades that have affected the country in the wake of overt government attempts to cheat the people of their democratic decisions.
The kitchen tent was bustling with activity as volunteers prepared tortillas, scrambled eggs, doled out portions of beans and cheese, and poured coffee. It was just before eight in the morning at the protest outside the public prosecutors’ office in Guatemala City, where a dedicated crew has been serving Indigenous leaders and other demonstrators around the clock for more than two weeks straight.
“We have been sleeping here,” said Juana Chávez, gesturing to a little patch of road under the canopy, between piles of equipment and shelves stacked with food supplies. A Maya K’iche member of Oxlajuj Ajpop, an organization dedicated to Mayan spirituality and sacred sites, Chávez has been one of the core kitchen volunteers since day one. “We are here in the resistance,” she told Ojalá proudly of the crew of women and men, young and old, Indigenous and not.
The Guatemala City protest is part of an Indigenous-led national shutdown now in its third week, with ongoing highway and road blockades around the country, and the threat of an imminent crackdown. People are demanding the resignations of the attorney general and other judicial system operators who are behind the efforts to subvert electoral democracy.
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In spite of the democratic backsliding and attacks against blockades, the actions have also been celebrations of resistance, with music, dancing, art, ceremonies, piñatas, and other activities. Communities have been caravaning and even arriving on foot to support blockades in the highlands and capital, taking turns to keep the actions going strong. Every day, different old US school buses painted in vivid colors are parked behind the public prosecutors’ office.
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Beyond the stationary protests and support organizing, marches snake through the capital on a near-daily basis. Diverse sectors have been mobilizing, and market tenants and vendors have been especially active. One of their biggest marches involved thousands of people from dozens of markets, filling multiple city blocks. Alicia Portillo, a clothing vendor at the San Martín market, told Ojalá no one can remember there ever having been such a united mass movement across markets in the city.
You can read the full article, with photos, here, An uprising for democracy in Guatemala.
Categories: Corruption, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Indigenous peoples, Justice, Legal, Presidential Elections, Solidarity in Action
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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