Hundreds demonstrate against the prosecutor in Guatemala for the process against Arévalo

2023-09-05 02:31:41

Hundreds of Guatemalans demonstrated this Monday at various national offices of the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office) to demand the resignation of the attorney general, Consuelo Porras, whom they say interferes and prosecutes the electoral process held in the Central American country.

Community and indigenous leaders led the mobilizations in at least 10 offices of the Prosecutor’s Office located in all regions of the country.

“We demand the resignation of Porras for the good of our democracy,” declared Luis Pacheco, president of the indigenous organization known as the 48 cantons of Totonicapán, during one of the demonstrations in western Guatemala.

The protests were registered in the departments (provinces) of Totonicapán, Chimaltenango, Sololá and Quiché, located in the northwest of the country, as well as in Santa Rosa, Jalapa, Jutiapa, in the east and Petén in the north.

In addition, at noon dozens of citizens began a sit-in at the headquarters of the Prosecutor’s Office, located in the Guatemalan capital.

“We demand your resignation because you have only dedicated yourself to judicializing politics,” was one of the slogans of a citizen addressed to Porras through a loudspeaker at the entity’s headquarters.

(AP)

The demonstrations take place three days after the president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo de León, called on the population to “defend democracy” due to the existence of an “ongoing coup” to prevent him from assuming the presidency on the next 14 from January.

Arévalo de León denounced that Porras, the leadership of the Prosecutor’s Office and the criminal judge Fredy Orellana, are the promoters of this attack, which intensified when he won the ballot on August 20.

Since July 12, the Prosecutor’s Office has tried to cancel the Movimiento Semilla, party of the president-elect, as well as raids on the electoral court and said political organization.

Porras and two other prosecutors from the Public Ministry have been sanctioned by the United States Department of State, accused of corruption and undermining justice in the Central American country.

(EFE)

In the midst of a climate of uncertainty, this Monday the process of transition of command between the Government of Alejandro Giammattei and Arévalo de León, who must assume power for the period 2024-2028, is expected to formally begin.