2023-07-21 06:34:53
The Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office carried out a surprise raid on Thursday at the offices of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to take documents, in another controversial action one month after the presidential ballot.
It was “simply and simply a search and seizure of the employment file of the deputy director of the Registry” of Ciudadanos (electoral register), Eleonora Castillo, Alexander Velásquez, general secretary of the TSE, told AFP.
Guatemala lives in suspense after successive judicial rulings and actions by the Prosecutor’s Office that have put the democratic system in check and the second round of elections on August 20 between the social democratic candidates Sandra Torres and Bernardo Arévalo.
Velásquez affirmed that the prosecutors did not explain the reason for the search, because “they only show the order and carry out the procedure.”
The Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI) indicated in a statement that the search at the TSE Human Resources Directorate was ordered “to sequester documentation.”
In addition, he affirmed that Judge Fredy Orellana issued an arrest warrant against Castillo “for obstruction of justice, by virtue of the fact that he has refused to comply with the judge’s order” to suspend the political party Semilla, from Arévalo.
Castillo, who enjoys immunity, according to the TSE, acts as interim head of the electoral roll for the vacations of its owner, Ramiro Muñoz.
A week ago, the Prosecutor’s Office had raided the offices of the Citizens’ Registry to take Semilla’s documentation into custody.
Various judicial appeals from right-wing parties that lost the first presidential round on June 25 and the controversial disqualification of Semilla (annulled a day later) have clouded the runoff campaign. Also an arrest warrant for an Arévalo ally.
The suspension of Semilla was requested by the head of the FECI, Rafael Curruchiche, who points out irregularities in the registration of affiliates of the party created in 2017.
Prosecutor Cinthia Monterroso participated in the raid, who in the past has persecuted journalists critical of the current government and former prosecutors who fought impunity.
On Wednesday both Orellana and Monterroso were included by the United States in the so-called Engel list of Central Americans involved in “corrupt and undemocratic acts”, who are prohibited from entering that nation.
Previously, Curruchiche and the attorney general, Consuelo Porras, were included in the same list.
The abuse of judicial resources to hinder the second round of elections has caused concern in the international community and hundreds of Guatemalans have protested in front of the Prosecutor’s Office to demand the resignation of Porras and Curruchiche.
The electoral observation mission of the European Union on Thursday “strongly condemned the harassment and harassment” of the electoral court and Seed by the FECI.
It considered that the arrest warrants and searches of the TSE headquarters “constitute an action improper of a democratic state and of law tending to subvert the popular will expressed in the June 25 elections.”
In addition, it recalls that the TSE is “the highest judicial authority, whose independence and not subordination to any State body is enshrined in the law.”
On Wednesday, the head of the OAS electoral mission, former Paraguayan Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga, told the Permanent Council of the organization that “the abuse of legal instruments by actors dissatisfied with the results introduced a high degree of uncertainty in the electoral process and put the democratic stability of the country at risk.”
“We are Guatemalan citizens who are currently witnessing an attempted judicial coup,” said lawyer Víctor Castro, who took part in a protest during the raid.
“We are disgusted by the way they are bending the law,” added the 40-year-old.
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