Moments of high tension were experienced this Saturday, September 30, at the headquarters of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala. Despite the resistance of the magistrates, members of the Prosecutor’s Office forcibly took from the electoral body the minutes of the presidential elections of the first and second rounds of the presidential elections, in which Bernardo Arévalo was the winner. The president-elect reiterated his complaints of an attempted “coup d’état” for actions that would try to frustrate the start of his government, scheduled for January 2024.
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By force and after a raid lasting more than 20 hours, this Saturday, September 30, members of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (Feci) of Guatemala removed the minutes of this year’s presidential elections from the headquarters of the Electoral Tribunal.
The magistrates and other workers of the electoral body made a human fence, while they stood at the entrance of the building to try to prevent what they describe as the “kidnapping” of the documents, but all their efforts were fruitless.
Dozens of employees of the Prosecutor’s Office and police officers who supported them pushed and insulted the electoral judges and finally snatched the boxes with the documents, which correspond to the entire electoral process in the first round of the presidential elections in which the progressive Bernardo Arévalo advanced. and those of the second round in which he was the winner.
Likewise, these are the minutes on the election of the vice president, deputies to Congress, local mayors and deputies to the Central American Parliament, declared Judge Gabriel Aguilera.
‘La Prensa de Guatemala’ highlights that the magistrates offered the prosecutors the alternatives of scanning the minutes or making them public for the sake of transparency, but the workers of the Prosecutor’s Office rejected those options.
At the time the events were recorded, communications had restrictions, the local press highlighted. However, the moments of high tension and the actions of the Public Ministry (the Prosecutor’s Office) were recorded, because the TSE broadcast live, through its social networks, what was happening.
This is the fifth joint raid by the Prosecutor’s Office on the TSE and the headquarters of the Semilla Movement, the president-elect’s party.
Arévalo publicly denounced that it was a new attempt to stop his inauguration, scheduled for January 2024. Since his passage to the first round, the Prosecutor’s Office undertook different actions to stop his candidacy.
The Organization of American States (OAS) expressed its concern and the United States warned that it will “persecute” those who try to “undermine the democratic transition.”
With AP, EFE and local media
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