International organizations are calling the legal challenge against the election of a leader in Guatemala, who is against corruption, an “attempted coup”.
Bernardo Arévalo was supposed to become president in January, but on Friday, the country’s prosecutor’s office said the result doesn’t count.
The European Union and the Organization of American States said they didn’t like what happened and want someone new to take over.
Mr Arévalo said the prosecutor was trying to take over the government.
Many people saw his win in August as a rejection of Guatemala‘s powerful and corrupt politicians.
The 65-year-old leader of the party Seed Movement won a lot of votes, more than 60%, by promising to improve the way the government works in the Central American country.
But his opponents keep saying the election was unfair and that Mr. Arévalo’s party cheated and didn’t follow the rules when registering.
Mr Arévalo, international observers, and his supporters say the accusations are not true. They think the prosecutors are just trying to play politics.
People who want more democracy have been protesting on the streets to support Mr. Arévalo and to ask the attorney general and other officials to leave their positions.
On Friday, prosecutor Leonor Morales said the August election result should be canceled because the wrong voting forms were used during the first round of the presidential election in June.
Blanca Alfaro, who is in charge of the Guatemalan electoral commission, said that the result cannot be changed. She also said that Mr Arévalo will be officially sworn in next month as scheduled.
On Friday, the prosecutor’s office tried to stop the president-elect’s party from being sworn in. This comes after previous attempts to suspend his party. Many people think this is a way to prevent him from becoming president.
EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell said the election fraud claims are false and called Friday’s announcement an attempt to overthrow the government, led by prosecutors with political motives.
He wanted the power to change in a fair way and said there would be consequences for those who caused trouble.
The Organization of American States said the prosecutor’s involvement is something dictatorships do, not democracies.
Tag: Guatemala
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Election challenge in Guatemala perceived as “attempted coup”
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Protests for democracy in Guatemala immobilises country for second week
There is growing tension in Guatemala because supporters of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo have been protesting for a second week.
The protesters want Attorney-General Consuelo Porras to step down from her position.
They say that Ms Porras planned to stop Mr Arévalo, who promised to fight corruption, from becoming the leader.
On Monday, some of the protests that were calm before became aggressive.
Some people wearing masks threw rocks and broke windows at a protest near the National Palace of Culture in Guatemala City.
Efe news agency reported that around 200 troublemakers joined the peaceful protest and caused problems. These troublemakers threatened the protesters, press members, and got into clashes with the police.
A person in the government, Napoleón Barrientos Girón, later said that the violence was caused by “groups of people who had joined secretly”. “MrBarrientos said that we are running after them and catching them. ”
The fights happened on the eighth day in a row of demonstrations by Mr Arévalo’s followers. He had won the presidential election in August by a big margin.
Just a few hours after he won by a large margin, the political party he leads called Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement), was temporarily stopped by Guatemala’s top election authority, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
Many people believe that his political party suspended him in order to prevent Mr. Arévalo, who is not an experienced politician and has been fighting against corruption, from becoming officially recognized in January as previously planned.
MrArévalo himself called it a coup d’état. His followers are now going out to the streets to ask for the removal of Consuelo Porras, who they believe is trying to stop Mr Arévalo, from her role as attorney-general.
Ms Porras is saying that Mr Arévalo’s party did not follow the proper procedures to become officially registered. However, some people who disagree with her say that she only started looking into this issue after Mr Arévalo did well in the first round of the election and secured a place in the next round.
The protests got worse last week when protesters stopped cars from using important roads all over the country. The blockades have made it difficult for people to get fuel and food in some areas. It has also stopped traffic on important roads.
In a TV speech to the country, the president who is leaving his position, Alejandro Giammattei, asked the protesters to remove the blockades. He said the blockades were against the law, causing a shortage of supplies and endangering the lives of Guatemalan people.
He also requested Mr. Arévalo to meet with mediators from the Organization of American States (OAS) to make sure that the transfer of power on January 14th, when President Giammattei’s term ends, happens peacefully. -
Former president of Guatemala admits guilt to corruption
A court in Guatemala has decided that the former president, Otto Pérez Molina, must go to jail for eight years.
Pérez Molina, who was made to leave his position in 2015 due to protests against corruption, admitted to breaking the law by moving illegal money, committing fraud, and being involved in corrupt activities.
Prosecutors say he received a lot of money as bribes for giving out more than 70 contracts to different companies.
The 72-year-old person has been in prison since the day after he left his job.
Last year, he and his vice-president, Roxana Baldetti, were found guilty of carrying out a bribery scheme at the Guatemalan customs authorities.
The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which was formed by the United Nations and Guatemala to fight corruption in the country, played a key role in uncovering both corruption cases.
CICIG looked into claims of corruption by powerful people.
The United Nations-supported group was forced to leave Guatemala in 2019 by Jimmy Morales, the person who took over after Pérez Molina. This happened because the group began to look into Mr. Morales’ possible problem with how he received money for his campaign.
The removal of CICIG received strong criticism from groups in Guatemala and also from those in the United States and the European Union who are against corruption.
People are saying that President Alejandro Giammattei’s current government is stopping investigations into corruption.
The US state department claimed that Guatemala’s Attorney General Consuelo Porras blocked investigations in order to help her friends and gain unfair political support. This happened last year when she ordered the arrest of several anti-corruption prosecutors.
Many prosecutors and judges from Guatemala have left the country because they are scared of being arrested.
People from Guatemala said that they are very worried about corruption. This made them vote for a person who is not a part of the usual politics and promised to stop the corrupt practices. -
Guatemalans ready to vote in contentious presidential election
On August 20, a former first lady and the son of a former president will face off in Guatemala’s presidential runoff, closing a tumultuous campaign that has alarmed observers about the future of the country as inequality and corruption fuel political unrest throughout the region.
The political establishment’s choice for continuity, Sandra Torres, will face off against the anti-corruption candidate, Bernardo Arévalo, who confounded expectations by placing second in the first round of voting in June.
In the first round of voting in June, Torres received 16% of the vote, while Arévalo received 11.8%. However, more than 24% of voters cast blank or ineffective ballots, and around 40% of registered voters stayed home, which observers have linked to high levels of dissatisfaction with Guatemala’s electoral system after the state disqualified opposition candidates who spoke out against corruption.
This year’s presidential cycle, which has been marred by accusations of governmental intervention and worries of democratic backsliding, has been reenergized by outsider candidate Arévalo’s unexpected run in the second round.
Those keeping an eye on Guatemala are cautiously optimistic that the popular will will win.
“Guatemalans desired a choice on the ballot that would allow them to reject the present political order. And happily, they now have that as one of two options, said Will Freeman of Arévalo’s progressive campaign to CNN. Freeman is a fellow in Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Rights organisations claim that after a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission, known as CICIG, which is credited with helping to secure hundreds of convictions, was disbanded in 2019, corruption and impunity among the nation’s political class increased. In the years that have followed, numerous judges and prosecutors connected to the commission have been compelled to leave the nation due to high rates of starvation and poverty.
The exclusion of candidates who opposed corruption during this year’s election cycle raised concerns about democratic backsliding and drew considerable criticism from the US and other Western partners.
There have also been attempts to disqualify Arévalo, who previously held the position of ambassador to Spain. On the request of Rafael Curruchiche, the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity and a person on the US State Department Engels list for “corrupt and undemocratic actors,” a Guatemalan court suspended his Movimiento Semilla party.
Curruchiche said that Movimiento Semilla was under investigation for allegedly forging citizen signatures; however, Arévalo has refuted this charge.
However, after a global uproar from the US, European Union, and a group of international funders known as the G13, which also includes the United Kingdom and Canada, he was ultimately permitted to run in the first round. Torres herself made the announcement that she will halt her political candidature in support of Movimiento Semilla.
Voters’ main concerns as they travel to the polls on August 20 are unemployment, corruption, and excessive living expenses. The political system in Guatemala is dysfunctional, and whatever what candidates promise, they always act in the same way once in office, according to Freeman.
With the help of Nayib Bukele, the president of neighbouring El Salvador, Torres has committed to toughen up the nation’s anti-crime laws and to boost social programmes. Since she worked to increase cash transfers and benefits as first lady more than ten years ago, she enjoys support from people in rural areas.
The 67-year-old is the leader of Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), one of the biggest political parties in the nation. She co-served as first lady of the nation from 2008 to 2011 with her ex-husband, the center-left former president Alvaro Colom.
Torres has run for president three times, losing to incumbent President Alejandro Giammattei in 2019. She has become one of the most recognisable figures in politics thanks to her time in the spotlight.
The former diplomat appears to be in the lead right now. Arévalo, a pragmatist from the center-left Movimiento Semilla party that he co-founded in 2017, is said to have the ability to capitalise on the general unhappiness with the present political establishment. His father, Juan José Arévalo, is credited with founding Guatemala’s social security system and served as the nation’s first democratically elected president in 1945.
As stated in his 100-day plan, if elected, fighting corruption will be the top priority. According to Freeman, Arévalo seems more concerned in ending pork barrel expenditures than in bringing criminal charges against dishonest individuals. The notion is that you should address corruption at its source and prevent non-competitive awarding of governmental contracts.
He has pledged to bring back the journalists, judges, and prosecutors who left the nation after the government shut down CICIG. Among them is Thelma Aldana, a former presidential candidate for his party who is renowned for her anti-corruption campaigns that resulted in the conviction of a former president. Aldana was not permitted to compete in the 2019 event.
Arévalo has stated that he wants Guatemala to establish relations with both Taipei and Beijing. Guatemala now recognises Taiwan.
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UN expresses worry over the investigations into Guatemala
Critics indicate that Iván Velásquez’s accusations represent the newest assault on Guatemala’s anti-corruption officials.
After Guatemala announced it would look into a former anti-corruption investigator assigned to the nation, the UN released a statement expressing “concern.”
According to Guatemalan prosecutors, Iván Velásquez, a Colombian who oversaw the UN’s anti-corruption initiatives in Guatemala from 2013 to 2019, is being looked into for “illegal, arbitrary, and abusive acts.”
But detractors have cautioned that the investigation represents the latest attempt by Guatemala’s government to abandon its anti-corruption initiatives.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres “expresses his concern at the numerous reports suggesting that criminal prosecution is being exercised against those who sought to shed light on cases of corruption and worked to strengthen the justice system in Guatemala”, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The UN also underscored that “justice operators and officials” from its former anti-corruption campaign continue to “enjoy privileges and immunities” even after their positions have come to a close.
The campaign started in 2006 when the UN and Guatemala agreed to launch the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The aim of the commission was to root out “criminal groups believed to have infiltrated state institutions” in the wake of Guatemala’s decades-long civil war.
In 2007, at the time when the commission was ratified, Guatemala was in the grip of a police scandal, with reports of extrajudicial killings, and there were fears corruption could erode the country’s democratic gains.
Velásquez, a Colombian who formerly served as an auxiliary magistrate to his country’s Supreme Court, was appointed to head the CICIG on August 31, 2013.
Under his leadership, the commission pursued investigations into some of Guatemala’s highest authorities, including the administration of then-President Otto Perez Molina.
Both Molina and his vice president ultimately resigned amid accusations they participated in a corruption scheme known as “La Linea”, which allegedly used customs officials to solicit bribes in exchange for evading import duties.
Molina was sentenced last month to 16 years on fraud and conspiracy charges. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The UN commission’s investigations are estimated to have led to the sentencing of more than 400 people, as well as the disruption of at least 60 criminal networks.
But the CICIG’s work came to a sudden halt in 2019, when Guatemala announced it would withdraw from the 2006 agreement with the UN. The government had previously tried to declare Velásquez a “persona non grata” and deny him entry to the country.
The move prompted fears that 12 years’ worth of government reform would be reversed. “The old actors that have manipulated the judicial system are empowered and will look to debilitate the system again,” a constitutional lawyer from Guatemala told Al Jazeera at the time. But proponents of the move said the CICIG had become a tool of political persecution.
In the years since, the Guatemalan government has faced criticism that it has retaliated against former members of the CICIG, as well as other anti-corruption figures. The Associated Press estimates that about 30 judges, magistrates and prosecutors have been forced into exile from Guatemala under its current administration.
One of the most high-profile cases was that of Juan Francisco Sandoval. Formerly the head of the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity, he was sacked and fled the country in 2021.
And just this past February, another prominent anti-corruption prosecutor in Guatemala, Virginia Laparra, was arrested. Charged with abuse of authority, she was given a four-year sentence in December.
“The targeted prosecution of justice and media actors undermines Guatemalan rule of law, democracy and prosperity,” the US State Department’s spokesperson Ned Price said in response to Laparra’s sentencing.
Guatemala is now investigating Velásquez, the former CICIG head, in connection to a cooperation agreement with the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, a company previously involved in an international bribery scandal.
The case is being led by Guatemalan prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche Cacul, whom the US State Department has previously accused of “disrupting high-profile corruption cases against government officials and raising apparently spurious claims”. He succeeded the exiled Sandoval as leader of the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity.
The investigation has sparked tensions between Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro, who appointed Velásquez as defence minister.
Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Petro said he would not accept an arrest warrant for the defence minister.
Giammattei, meanwhile, told the Spanish news agency EFE that Velásquez is facing an investigation and not a criminal prosecution at this time.
“It would be nice if someone enlightened Mr Petro on the difference,” Giammattei said. Both presidents have summoned their ambassadors to each other’s country to discuss the diplomatic incident.
Velásquez, meanwhile, took to Twitter on Tuesday to thank Petro for his support.
“I am deeply grateful to the president [Gustavo Petro] for his expressions of solidarity and trust,” Velásquez wrote.
Referring to corruption as a monster, Velásquez emphasised that he and Petro shared a common goal: “We know the monster, we have seen it up close and, from different trenches, we have fought it. We know how it transforms and the methods it uses, but it doesn’t scare us.”