Guatemala City (AFP) – The Constitutional Court of Guatemala (CC), the highest court, ordered this Saturday to guarantee the seizure of power of the elected president, Bernardo Arévalo, harassed by a series of judicial actions that hinder his inauguration next January.
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In its resolution, the CC asked to “preserve the democratic regime of the State, especially the alternation in the exercise of power”, on the scheduled date of January 14, after the general elections held in the first and second round, last June and August. .
The Court’s ruling, disclosed on its account on the followers of orchestrating a “coup d’état.”
The CC issued its resolution in response to a legal appeal promoted by ten civil society lawyers, who assured that there is a “threat that the popular will validly expressed by the people of Guatemala will not be respected.”
“This Court calls on rulers and governed to execute their powers and exercise their rights in such a way that the transition provided for in the Constitution is consolidated within the framework of a stable institutional order that the Constituent Assembly provided for,” he added.
With his promise to fight against corruption, Arévalo, 64, surprisingly won the elections in the second round on August 20 against former first lady Sandra Torres, close to the powerful business elite allied to the government.
But since the first round of elections, in June, the attorney general, supported by the head of the prosecutor’s office against impunity, Rafael Curruchiche, and judge Fredy Orellana – the three included in a list of “corrupt” and “undemocratic” Guatemalan leaders prepared by the United States – undertook a series of actions against Arévalo and his political party, Semilla.
Judge Orellana, at the request of Curruchiche, disqualified Semilla for alleged illegalities in its formation in 2017, a measure that may take effect on October 31.
OAS appoints mediators in the protests
The blockades to demand that the actions against Arévalo and his party stop began on Monday after raids on the headquarters of the electoral court, where officials from the Prosecutor’s Office seized electoral records arguing that they are investigating alleged anomalies in the elections.
Fifty routes in the country remain paralyzed this Saturday, affecting sections of strategic roads such as those that lead to the borders with Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, and also reach the capital.
“If the strike on the roads continues, it will be shocking. That is why we hope that the situation can calm down,” the president of the Association of International Freight Transport (Asctic), Raúl Alfaro, told AFP.
Waving Guatemalan flags, dozens of students cut off two main avenues surrounding the university, in the south of Guatemala City, with buses, ribbons and banners.
“Corrupts out!”, “My vote is respected!” are some of the slogans chanted by the protesters. “Enough is enough, the sovereign people have chosen,” read the banners.
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, announced this Saturday that he will mediate between the government and social sectors that maintain the protests, following a request sent on Friday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mario Adolfo Búcaro.
“We accept a request from the government of Guatemala to carry out mediation tasks between the social sectors involved in the protests and the government,” Almagro stated in X.
The OAS “mediation and dialogue” mission, according to Almagro, will be made up of the former Minister of Defense of Uruguay, Luis Rosadilla, and the Secretary of Access to Rights and Equity of the OAS, Maricarmen Plata.
Both Rosadilla and Plata will travel “at the earliest possible date” to Guatemala, where they will be joined by the representative of the OAS office, Diego Paz.
Jorge González, from the indigenous authority of Alta Verapaz, who participated this Saturday in a demonstration in the Guatemalan capital, warned that “when (Porras) resigns we will be open to dialogue.”
“We are going to continue in the streets, this pressure is going to continue,” González emphasized.
The OAS, the United States, the European Union and international NGOs have expressed their concern about the situation in Guatemala, considering that the democracy and governability of this Central American country burdened by poverty, gang violence and corruption are in danger.
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