Carlos Roberto Calderón, deputy from the official Vamos party, was the main actor in an incident with alleged Guatemalan merchants and processors during an audit he carried out at the Guatemalan consulate in Los Angeles, California.
Calderón is seeking re-election with the Vamos party on the National List and, as he has published on social networks, he has made visits to Guatemalan consulates in the United States, where he has criticized the sale of appointments to carry out procedures in said offices.
According to the parliamentarian, this work is part of the inspection that he is carrying out to evaluate the attention that Guatemalans receive in the different consulates in the United States.
Calderón himself has broadcast on his social networks videos of his visits to the consulates, where he apparently documents the treatment of compatriots in the consulates and how many are affected by the charge of up to $300 dollars that processors demand to get an appointment. in said dependency.
On April 3, the parliamentarian published videos on social networks in which he attended the Guatemalan consulate in Los Angeles, California and allegedly received a complaint from a compatriot who was charged US$100 by a processor for expediting a process at the aforementioned consulate. .
The parliamentarian tries to interview the alleged victim, who tells him that they demanded the $100 and at that moment the alleged merchant confronts him in front of the cameras.
The parliamentarian recriminates the merchant who was charging US$300 per appointment
In the video, Calderón is seen mentioning that one of the shuco vendors outside the consulate uses his business as a front to charge US$300 to get an appointment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The supposed processor faces the deputy and he raises his voice and says that he is angry because “the business fell” of charging for procedures. Furthermore, he warns him that if he touches the whistleblower, he could go to jail.
The merchant rebukes the deputy and tells him that the parliamentarian’s sister also sells appointments in an area near the consulate.
“Touch me and you’ll go to jail” the deputy yells at the supposed processor, who responds and mentions again that the congressman’s sister also sells appointments for procedures at the consulate.
The processor tells the deputy that until now that the elections are approaching, he is worrying about the migrants.
During my visit to #Audit in #ConsuladoLA
What they couldn’t see!@CongresoGuate @BlockLet’s go @conamigua1 @vozinmigranteLA pic.twitter.com/iszdtR9LTx— Carlos Roberto Calderón (@CrCalderongt) April 3, 2023
In my capacity as supervisor in the #ConsuladoLA@conamigua1 @CongresoGuate @BlockLet’s go pic.twitter.com/zTjkxJxG0p
— Carlos Roberto Calderón (@CrCalderongt) April 3, 2023
signals aggression
In another video shared on social networks, it is observed that a woman records the deputy and tries to tell the official something, but he grabs her cell phone and tries to prevent her from continuing to film.
The woman is surprised by the congressman’s attitude and tells him that if he touches her they will call the police, to which the deputy replies that they should respect him.
The woman who was recording Calderón during the altercation in Los Angeles also published a video explaining what happened.
According to the woman, who identifies herself as @lindaec47 on her TikTok account, she distributes flyers for a food business that is close to the Guatemalan Consulate in Los Angeles.
She affirms that when Deputy Calderón arrived, many people began to yell at him corrupt, for which she decided to record.
He affirmed that people began to point out a series of things to the deputy – such as the sale of appointments for said consulate.
The woman points to a place in front of the consulate and affirms that that is where the sister of the deputy and the niece sell the Guatemalan appointments and do all kinds of paperwork.
She explains that when she was recording the deputy, he threw the phone in her face and hit her.
#Urgent
The video where they explain what happened with the official deputy.Video pic.twitter.com/ALgKqzcOID
– Manuel Alejandro (@manuelale69) April 4, 2023
insults
In another of the images it can be seen that a Guatemalan, who is traveling in a pickup truck, addresses the deputy and tells him that he knows him, that he knows what he is doing and insults him.
Deputy Carlos Calderón replies that he also knows him.
Other videos also show that the merchants recriminate the deputy and remind him that a few years ago he also “did the same as them” -in reference to the sale of appointments and procedures for migrants.
“You worked for years doing the same thing, with Mrs. Lis” the processor tells him and the deputy replies that at that time there were no appointments.
The processor reminds him that appointments did not exist, but he did take minutes and that everything that is being done there – the procedures – the congressman did before.
“Yes, yes, from 2015 onwards” acknowledges the deputy and tells the processor not to approach him, because he is a “shuquero”, referring to the fact that he is a shuco seller.
The accusations are against the sister of the deputy, whom they identify as Jaqueline Calderón, who has been linked to the sale of appointments and procedures for Guatemalans at said consulate. In addition, they also link a niece of the congressman to that same activity.
In social networks several people posted photographs of advertising posters in which the photograph of Deputy Calderón is seen and where he offers various services in his legal office.
It is mentioned that he works in the Consulate building in Guatemala and that he carries out procedures for Guatemala, Mexico and Central America.
These services include legal passes, notary public stamps, Norwalk stamps, and the Guatemalan Consulate.
In addition, birth certificates and identity cards issued by the National Registry of Persons, as well as criminal and police records, among others.
And as the brand new deputy of the @PartidoVamosGt , @CrCalderongt He already got angry and blocked me for telling him the truth. Here is another piece of information from his “law office” The curious thing is that Carlos Calderón says that he is a dental surgeon. ???? and also @CONGUATE is linked to him. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/8Bj1kqscRg
— ||David Juárez|| ® ???????? (@David_JUAREZG_) April 4, 2023
The deputy’s version
In a press release published by Deputy Calderón on April 3, 2023, he gives his version of what happened outside the Guatemalan Consulate in Los Angeles.
He clarifies that as a deputy to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, for a few weeks he has inspected different consulates of Guatemala, in the US and that on April 3 he was in Los Angeles, California.
He explains that there was an altercation with a merchant “who disguised his real business with a sale of bread, that of selling shifts to carry out the different procedures at the Consulate. This clandestine business generated up to $300 per person,” the document reads.
He affirms that, upon seeing him in his inspection work, a compatriot approached “to denounce that he had paid $100 for a procedure. Upon confronting this event, the “bread seller” became aggressive and offended me, putting the rest of “processors “and other people against me.”
“This situation made me feel in danger and led to more incidents, including a driver who recklessly yelled at me from the vehicle, as well as a woman who joined the above and has spread the wrong version of events, stating that the I hurt, an issue that I totally deny”, points out the deputy Calderón.
According to Calderón, in several videos you can see how he defends the man who denounced the sale of shifts and the “violent way in which these subjects try to attack this person.”
He details that thanks to his intervention, he prevents such aggression and makes them see that if they attack him, he will call the Police.
“It is evident that my work had an impact on their perverse interests of profiting from the needs of the compatriots in LA. I will continue to ensure that the service in the consulates is increasingly dignified and effective. I will continue fighting for all the chapines inside and outside our borders, my commitment is with you,” the statement concluded.
# Announcement: pic.twitter.com/hdLRigCNrY
— Carlos Roberto Calderón (@CrCalderongt) April 4, 2023
Other facts related to the deputy
In November 2022, the death of 21-year-old Maryori Noemí Yumán was confirmed, who fell from the fifth floor while participating in a Halloween party at the house of a deputy, whose name was not revealed.
On Friday, November 4, parliamentarian Carlos Roberto Calderón Gálvez, from the Vamos bench, spoke about the case, in which, he said, he collaborates with the investigation.
The sources revealed that a group of people, including the deputy and the young woman, were celebrating October 31 in a nightclub, but at about one in the morning on November 1 they went to an apartment in zone 15 to continue with the celebration.
In addition, they indicated that everything points to the fact that the victim was not known to the deputy or his friends, and that after he got drunk he asked to lie down and entered a bedroom that had access to a balcony and fell, for which reason the next day he was located in the courtyard of the building.
Calderón lamented the death of the young woman and said that the case “is being investigated” and that despite the fact that she enjoys the right to a trial, she is collaborating with the investigations.
Budget for your NGO
In the opinion of the 2022 Budget, the Finance Commission of Congress included the Conguate Foundation as a beneficiary of Q7 million for programs in the Ministry of Education (Mineduc). This entity is directly linked to Vamos deputy Carlos Roberto Calderón.
The Conguate Foundation took its name from the National Coalition of Guatemalan Immigrants in the US (Conguate), a social projection group capitalized by Guatemalans in the United States. However, the entity was formed in 2019, and since then it has received resources from Mineduc, far from the work of its namesake in the US.
Armando Rosales Izás is the president of that foundation. He was also an advisor in the Congress of the Republic of deputy Calderón, work for which he earns Q20 thousand.
In April 2020, one month after the face-to-face school year was suspended due to the covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation signed its first agreement with the Mineduc for Q1 million to install the bakery and drawing workshop in the Multiple Use Center (CUM), in the facilities of the Experimental Institute of the Nueva Montserrat neighborhood, in Mixco.