Protest against Attorney General Consuelo Porras outside the Guatemalan Ministry of State last Thursday.CRISTINA CHIQUIN (Portal)
The street outside Guatemala City’s public ministry, which years ago went from investigating major corruption cases to prosecuting opponents, was packed with protesters on Thursday afternoon, a day after prosecutors announced the cancellation of the Seed Movement party just outside of had the second round of elections. The mostly young protesters called for the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras and officials who tried to exclude the progressive formation Movimiento Semilla from the election campaign, a court decision that brought the Central American country to the brink of constitutional breach and which was ineffective for the time being.
The Constitutional Court has accepted an appeal guaranteeing the participation of Bernardo Arévalo, the Seed movement’s candidate for president, in the August 20 runoff against Conservative candidate and former First Lady Sandra Torres. The court’s reaction has so far thwarted attempts by the apparatus around current President Alejandro Giammattei to eliminate an opponent from the dispute over the nomination of an official candidate. That was the maneuver of prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, an official sanctioned by the United States for corruption, and Judge Fredy Orellana, who on Wednesday ordered the seed movement to be annulled or disqualified. The party has taken legal action against both of them.
The attempt was a “crude” movement, according to several lawyers, who denounced the illegality of the order and the interference of a criminal judge in electoral matters. In addition, there was criticism of the fear of a breach of the constitutional order. The aim of the operation was to oust a party that had managed to reach the second round, which was called for August 20 with a proposal to reject corruption and curb the authoritarianism that flourished during Giammattei’s tenure had tightened. More than 100 journalists, former law enforcement officers and human rights defenders have been exiled due to the looming persecution by the state ministry.
The Supreme Electoral Court noted that Judge Orellana’s order interfered with that body’s exclusive authority to dissolve a political party, a situation that is also not possible in an ongoing electoral process. In any case, until a final decision is made on the legal steps that will prevent the party from being dissolved, the danger remains, said former voter Aquiles Faillace.
The seed movement, which sprung up in the heat of the 2015 anti-corruption protests, has filed a criminal complaint against prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and a complaint against Judge Fredy Orellana. Both are accused of criminal offenses such as breach of duty, abuse of office for electoral purposes, unconstitutional decisions and abuse of office, and the judge is also accused of subterfuges. Curruchiche does not enjoy immunity like Judge Fredy Orellana. An Appeals Chamber will now be responsible for determining whether there is support for pursuing criminal proceedings against the judge.
Arévalo and vice-presidential candidate Karin Herrera filed the complaint with the State Ministry just as the citizens’ demonstration was beginning. “They thought they were going to intimidate us, but here we are fighting for our democracy,” said the candidate, who thanked both the electoral tribunal and the civil register for failing to comply with unlawful orders.
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The State Ministry assures that it will continue the investigation into the alleged forgery of the signatures of the affiliates in the founding document of the Semilla party, the argument used by the prosecutor and the court to disqualify the founding. On Thursday morning, hooded officers broke into the Citizens Registry headquarters for more than 10 hours during an operation led by financial agent Cinthya Monterroso, who was in charge of the case against director of elPeriódico Jose Rubén Zamora and former prosecutor Samari Gómez.
A “heated” conversation with the Archbishop
On Friday morning, Attorney General Consuelo Porras visited Metropolitan Archbishop Gonzalo de Villa in his office, who issued a statement that said: “The prosecutor spent most of the conversation defending himself and his values in a very heated manner.” and his efforts”. Later in the day, the Attorney General’s Office sought to apologize and issued a statement assuring that “the State Department’s actions are not intended to affect the date of the second round or preclude a candidate from participating,” blaming her Disinformation campaigns supporting this approach.
According to analyst Marco Canteo, the virtual and civic mobilization made it possible to show that what happened was not a legitimate action, but an attempt to “spoil the second round by ruling out a candidacy and trying to prevent change.” it may be small. “The action to nullify the seed movement revealed an interesting narrative to avoid any possibility of changing the current situation of the country, changing the balance of power that allows a different course,” Canteo told EL PAÍS.
In the end, the decisive factor was the pressure of the democratic forces, not all of which were linked to Arévalo’s party. The Cacif, which brings together the chambers of commerce identified as part of the establishment, spoke out against the party’s dissolution, as did civil organizations, indigenous peoples and university youth. The rejection of the technical coup attempt was unanimous. The pulse has now shifted to the courts and that is where citizens’ demands go, so that the verdicts that bring Bernardo Arévalo to the second round are upheld.
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