Álvaro Montenegro writes in El Faro English on the continued attempts by the corrupt to avoid the swearing in of Bernardo Arévalo and Karin Herrera as the next President and Vice-President. The countdown continues until January 14th next.
In what remains of 2023, Guatemala is locked in a tight race between democratic values and authoritarianism. The coming weeks will determine whether there is a change in governance toward transparency and against corruption or whether a dictatorship is installed. The party poised to take power, Movimiento Semilla (the “Seed Movement”), the Indigenous authorities who have led two months of social mobilization, and the international community are the chief actors who thus far have staved off a coup d’état.
President Alejandro Giammattei and his stalwart Consuelo Porras, the attorney general sanctioned for corruption by the United States, have done everything in their power to block Bernardo Arévalo from being duly sworn-in on January 14. They do so perversely because, while everyone knows their true intentions, they take cover behind a smokescreen of due process, legality, and separation of powers. Their endgame is to bring down the presidential election and appoint someone aligned with the criminal networks who refuse to relinquish control of the state.
The movement seeking to steal the elections has made its play, employing multiple strategies through the institutions under its thumb, like the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to brazenly mount cases —in the style of Nicaragua— in an effort to defenestrate Arévalo and Vice President-Elect Karin Herrera. Arévalo neither has ties to criminals nor took money from drug traffickers; on the contrary, he comes from a new party that emerged from the 2015 anti-corruption protests. He is prepared to govern, has an unblemished record including doctoral studies in the Netherlands, and is the son of Juan José Arévalo, considered the best president in Guatemalan history.
The most recent attack against Arévalo was a new case launched on November 17 against 27 people for alleged damages to the property of the public San Carlos University, when it was occupied last year by students and professors following a fraudulent rector election rigged by Giammattei. It turns out that tweets of support for the university resistance movement were enough for prosecutors to accuse Arévalo, Herrera, multiple Semilla legislators, former legislative candidate Marcela Blanco, and other university professors and activists of damaging national patrimony. Citing this case, the Attorney General asked Congress to strip Arévalo and Herrera of their immunity from prosecution.
You can read the full piece, with links, here, One Month Remains for Guatemala to Preserve Its Democracy.
Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Legal, Lobbying, Presidential Elections, Solidarity in Action
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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