“Consuelo Porras uses fear, threats and harassment to pursue an anti-democratic agenda. No one is cornered here. If anything, I believe that the MP, with its own actions, demonstrates its desperation and cornering.”

Yuliana Ramazzini writes in El Faro English of an interview with Santiago Palomo, the Arévalo administration’s chief spokesperson who, in July, was pulled from his post as anti-corruption commissioner to fix the communications problems. See our previous post on this, from El Faro English, Inexperience, Lawfare, and Online Image Sway Arévalo’s Decisions.

Last week [week beginning 19^th August], Attorney General Consuelo Porras requested for the sixth time, with characteristic audacity and scarce evidence, that Congress strip Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo’s immunity. But in recent months a parallel crisis of the president’s own making has smoldered: His communication has been passive, creating a disconnect with the public and kindling intense public debates among supporters and detractors alike over whether the administration, which struggled to form a government and has seemed to improvise, is capable of governing a state that was plundered by recent governments.

In this interview with El Faro English in the National Palace of Culture, Santiago Palomo, the administration’s chief spokesperson who in July was pulled from his post as anti-corruption commissioner to fix the communications problems, responds to the criticism: “A government that has generated so many expectations in a historic moment of the country requires a robust communication policy, and these first months were a learning curve,” he asserts, adding that the administration must, in his view, do better at letting “the population know what is being done.”

The comings and goings of Arévalo’s cabinet have been another symptom of internal strife: Environment Minister María José Iturbide and Infrastructure Minister Jazmín de la Vega were both dismissed after the president publicly noted possible acts of corruption. Health Minister Óscar Cordón, reportedly unprepared for the post, resigned last month, citing personal health challenges. Minister of Energy and Mines Anayté Guardado stepped aside before inauguration due to political stress. Palomo’s predecessor, veteran journalist Haroldo Sánchez, left after months of criticism for failure or sluggishness in responding to press inquiries.

Palomo, one of the president’s confidants, is now one of the multiple top officials whom the Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to charge —just weeks into his tenure— for alleged abuse of authority. “I was summoned in [criminal] cases that were presented on the basis of Twitter screenshots… Every action of this government is subject to prosecutors’ arbitrary scrutiny,” he denounces. “We have presented more than 130 complaints of serious cases of corruption to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, with documentary evidence,” he reveals, “and yet they instead insist on attacking people who are uncomfortable for them.”

You can read the full interview, with links and photos, here, “Arévalo’s every action faces prosecutors’ arbitrary scrutiny”.

Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Impunity, Justice

Tags: Bernardo Arévalo, Consuelo Porras, El Faro, El Faro English, Interview, Santiago Palomo, Yuliana Ramazzini