The deputies of European Parliament approved this Thursday a non-binding resolution that calls for the adoption of sanctions against those responsible for “the attempt to coup d'état” in Guatemala.
The text of the resolution calls for restrictive measures against Attorney General, Maria Consuelo Porras Arguetaas well as the general secretary of the Public Ministry, Ángel Arnoldo Pineda Ávila, among other people.
These officials, the approved document points out, “They are undermining the 2023 electoral process in Guatemala and systematically instrumentalizing the judiciary to weaken the rule of law and criminalize opposition figures.”
The resolution condemns “the attempted coup d'état and the continued efforts of the Public Ministry for invalidating the results of the general and presidential elections in Guatemala.
The legislators added that this effort is supported by “unfounded accusations of fraud” and therefore asked “that these actions be put to an immediate end.”
Guatemala has been plunged into a serious institutional crisis after the Prosecutor's Office indicated that the presidential elections that resulted in Bernardo Arévalo as the winner were “null and void.”
The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, has already condemned the episode and described it as an “attempted coup d'état, led by politically motivated prosecutors”and threatened sanctions.
The social democrat Arévalo, a 65-year-old sociologist, maintains that the Prosecutor's Office seeks to prevent him from assuming power, since powerful traditional political sectors fear his promise of a frontal fight against corruption.
Arévalo should assume the presidency on January 14.
The Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala reported that the results of the elections “are official and unalterable” despite the attempts of the Public Ministry to annul them.
The Mercosur countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), the United States, the UN and the OAS have already condemned the maneuvers of the Guatemalan Prosecutor's Office against Arévalo.
AFP
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