Guatemala city. The questioned prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche announced this Thursday possible arrests of leaders of the Seed party of candidate Bernardo Arévalo, in a new attack against this social democratic formation three days before the presidential runoff in Guatemala.
“We do not rule out raids, we do not rule out arrest warrants, we do not rule out pre-trial requests (to raise privileges) after August 20,” the prosecutor told reporters at the court building in the capital.
“I estimate that after August 20 they will have to register the suspension of the political party in the system,” Semilla, said Curruchiche, referring to a measure already ordered by the controversial judge Fredy Orellana, but revoked by the highest judicial instance in the country, the Court of Constitutionality.
Curruchiche’s crusade against Semilla began after Arévalo made a surprise in the first round of elections on June 25 and went to the second round together with former first lady Sandra Torres. Both are social democrats, but she is seen as the candidate for continuity and he as the champion of change.
On July 12, at the request of Curruchiche, Judge Orellana disqualified Semilla, which put the ballot in check and caused a wave of indignation in the country and abroad.
Curruchiche alleges that there were alleged irregularities in the collection of citizen signatures to register Semilla as a party in 2017 and 2018.
The prosecutor indicated that among the thousands of signatures of party affiliates there are 18 deceased and 319 people whose identification document does not correspond.
In addition, another 613 names are “non-existent, invented” and 184 names are duplicates, it said, indicating that it has found 1,224 irregularities in total.
However, Curruchiche’s critics point out that the controversial prosecutor – included last year by the United States in a list of “corrupt” Central American actors – only cared about Semilla after Arévalo became a candidate for the runoff. The possible arrival of him to the presidency has caused influential political and business sectors in Guatemala to feel threatened.
Meanwhile, Orellana added to that list last month when the United States updated its list of “corrupt” actors.
Arévalo leads the voting intention and promises a crusade against corruption, an endemic evil in Guatemala. The candidate rejects the prosecutor’s accusations and attributes them to persecution against his party.
