The Public Ministry (MP) of Guatemala reported this Thursday (16) that it will request the withdrawal of the immunity of the country’s elected president, Bernardo Arévalo, and his deputy, Karin Herrera, for an alleged case of damage to the property of a state university.
In a press conference, the MP accused Arévalo and Herrera of participating in the forced takeover of the university campus in 2022, in rejection of the elections held that year at the university.
Prosecutor Saúl Sánchez, in charge of the investigation, stated that the elected president could have committed the crimes of aggravated usurpation, vandalism of cultural property and illicit association.
During the presentation of the case, Sánchez showed as supposed evidence against Arévalo screenshots of videos with the president-elect at the university’s facilities, participating in academic events, when the campus had already been liberated.
The MP will also ask for the withdrawal of the immunity of Herrera, vice-president-elect, deputies Samuel Pérez and Román Castellanos and deputy-elect Raúl Barrera, among others.
The indictment details that the accused used the act at the university as a “platform for their political candidacies”.
The MP, under the direction of Attorney General Consuelo Porras Argueta, has been heavily criticized in Guatemala and abroad in recent months for trying to intervene in the results of the last presidential elections and trying to cancel the president-elect’s party, the Seed Movement.
Since September 1, Arévalo has publicly accused the attorney general of leading an attempted “coup d’état” against him in order to prevent him from assuming the role of president on January 14 of next year.
In a statement, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) condemned the announcement by the Guatemalan Public Ministry.
“These decisions by the Public Ministry constitute actions of a political nature that distort the electoral process and may affect its result, which is why they are absolutely inadmissible and unacceptable for a democratic political system,” he stated.
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