Calm has returned to Guatemala this Friday, at least temporarily, after two days of high tension due to the risk of suspension in the second round of elections for the Social Democratic presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo de León, at the request of the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office).
The situation, however, continues to be disturbing for the political group of Arévalo de León, the Seed Movement, since the Public Ministry assured this Friday that it will continue to investigate them.
At the same time, social pressure is growing, after thousands of demonstrators protested against the headquarters of the Public Ministry until late at night on Thursday to demand the resignation of the attorney general and head of the Public Ministry, Consuelo Porras.
They were joined this Friday by indigenous authorities who, in front of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, demanded respect for the electoral results.
“As indigenous and ancestral authorities, we are extremely concerned about the spurious actions of the Public Ministry led by Consuelo Porras,” they asserted in an open letter.
“Serious crimes are those that can be understood as acts of sedition,” added the document, read by one of the spokespersons for the Iximulew Ancestral Indigenous Authorities collective.
Porras was sanctioned in 2021 by the United States with a ban on entering its territory by accusing her of “undermining” Justice in the Central American country.
From Semilla, which began the political campaign this Friday with a view to the ballot on August 20, they do not rule out that the Public Ministry continues with the attempts to remove the candidacy of Arévalo de León and even to arrest its members.
The elections on June 25 were won by former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova, from the National Unity of Hope (UNE), as all the polls announced.
Surprisingly, the second place was Arévalo de León, whom the polls placed in seventh or eighth place, and Semilla was accredited in the same way 23 deputies of the 160 that make up Congress, thus becoming the third force in parliament.
The Seed Movement was born from the anti-corruption demonstrations in the Central American country during 2015 and among its principles is social justice and the end of impunity.
Two days of political earthquake
Last Wednesday, the Public Ministry caused a political earthquake in the Central American country by accusing Semilla of corruption for an alleged case of false signatures and trying to suspend the candidacy of Arévalo de León.
However, on Thursday, the Constitutional Court, Guatemala’s highest court, legally annulled the request of the Prosecutor’s Office to suspend Semilla from the elections and likewise the Supreme Electoral Tribunal indicated that it would not take into account the action of the Public Ministry.
The investigation against Semilla is in charge of section chief Rafael Curruchiche, also sanctioned (in 2022) by the United States with the withdrawal of his visa on charges of creating false cases against ex-authorities.
Curruchiche is the same prosecutor who led the investigations against the journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, arrested on July 29, 2022 for an alleged case of money laundering, just five days after launching strong criticism of corruption against the government headed by Alejandro Giammattei. .
The seventh criminal court that endorsed the intentions of the Public Ministry against Semilla, Fredy Orellana, has also handled one of the cases accused of Zamora Marroquín, recognized for his journalistic work at the national level for the last three decades.
Torres Casanova and Arévalo de León will contest the second round of elections on August 20 to define the president of the Central American country for the period 2024-2028.
FOUNTAIN: EFE
