A court ordered this Wednesday afternoon the suspension of the Movimiento Semilla party, the option chosen by 12% of Guatemalan voters on June 25 as a way out of the authoritarian system in the Central American country. It was the prosecutor’s office in charge of Rafael Curruchiche, sanctioned by the United States for obstructing investigations in corruption cases, the body that launched a criminal case against the party that was formed in the heat of the 2015 protests against the decomposition of the democratic system.
The announcement of the cancellation of the formation led by Bernardo Arévalo occurred while Guatemalans were waiting for the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to announce the officialization of the election results, which despite being questioned by several parties were confirmed by a second scrutiny. The presidential runoff will be held on August 20.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, in charge of Curruchiche, has reported that a court ordered the cancellation based on a complaint received in May 2022 from a citizen who protested for having been affiliated with the party without his consent. After graphological studies, it was concluded that “the signature and handwriting were falsified,” Curruchiche said in a recording that was released while waiting for the results to be made official at the electoral court. At the gates of the court, a protest was being held that demanded the formal call for the second round, but that was nourished by voices rejecting the legal action against Semilla.
Before the prosecution announced the actions against the party, the leaders of the movement held a press conference in which they repudiated any action that could put the candidacies or the party at risk. “The accusations have not reached the judicial authorities. The complaints have been dismissed because they are invalid and this time it will be the same. Neither the party nor the candidacies of Bernardo and Karin will be affected”, explained the deputy Samuel Pérez, secretary of the movement. Semilla’s presidential candidate, Bernardo Arévalo, is a 64-year-old sociologist and Karin Herrera is the 55-year-old chemist-biologist who is running for vice-presidency.
Minutes before the announcement, former constituent Roberto Alejos told ELPAÍS that any action against a party that is going to the second round is “clearly malicious.” And this action by the prosecution is also part of a particularly flawed electoral process. Three presidential candidates with the potential to reach the second round have been excluded from the current electoral contest.
The Seed Movement climbed from the last places in the polls and was placed as the second most voted option. June 26 was a day of joy for the party, which was formed by a group of academics who is considering deep reforms in a country where more than half the population lives in poverty. Winning the election put Semilla in the crosshairs of a system that, legally, was excluding candidates who were not related to the ruling party and its allies. Days after the first round, Arévalo pointed out in an interview with ELPAÍS that criminal prosecution “is a resource that they have at hand and that they have not hesitated to use on previous occasions.” So, the applicant referred precisely to this case. “It is a spurious case that we know they are setting up. We came out denouncing it publicly around a signature issue at the party foundation six years ago and that they have dedicated themselves to trying to find some kind of issue.
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The party learned of the problems in membership membership and launched an internal investigation. Upon detecting the inconsistencies, he filed “a complaint with the Public Ministry of the person who had been involved in that case.” “The system is not going to stay calm and it is going to meekly accept the arrival of a party that they simply had not seen coming and that now they are about to lose control of the Executive, which is a central key to being able to make the entire economy viable. the corruption around which those spurious loyalties are woven. We know they are going to try everything and we are ready to resolve it,” Arévalo said, anticipating the actions announced today by a Public Ministry headed by Consuelo Porras, the attorney general appointed by President Alejandro Giammattei.
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