Guatemalans are experiencing one of their most tense political moments in their recent history due to the direction the presidential elections took which were held on June 25.
The unusual raid this Thursday of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), by the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office), deepened the path to uncertainty and concern in the international community (United States, European Union (EU) and United Nations).
This raid occurred shortly after the Prosecutor’s Office, which is led by Rafael Curruchiche —sanctioned by the United States—He asked for the disqualification of the Seed party, of which Bernardo Arévalo is a part, who had precisely passed a second round together with Sandra Torres.
The reaction of the population
and the international community has been categorical in rejecting this maneuver (of the Prosecutor’s Office)
And although the TSE ratified this Thursday that the ballot will take place on August 20 and the Constitutional Court (highest court) left the disqualification of Arévalo’s party without effect, the moves of the prosecution open a path of internal disputes in the Central American country.
On the one hand, the intervention of the offices of the Tribunal included prosecutors covering their faces with ski masks and many of the seized documents were not inventoried according to witnesses.
In the same context, andFormer Guatemalan superintendent Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa denounced on his social networks that the agents who carried out the raid are part of State intelligence.
This episode is part of an investigation by the Public Ministry for alleged corruption against Semilla.
Given this, the media outlet La Hora published an editorial in which it recorded that
Bernardo Arévalo celebrates his victory in the first round.
In fact, a United States spokesman said Thursday that the decisions made by the prosecution put “in danger” electoral legitimacy in the country. For his part, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, expressed his concern “over the attempts to influence the second round in the Central American country.
Meanwhile, the EU, through the head of its diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that they are “concerned” by the “continuous efforts” to “alter” the results of the first round and asked the institutions to respect the integrity of the process. .
The elections at the end of June were led by the former first lady Sandra Torres, from the National Unity of Hope (UNE), as all the polls announced.
However, the second place went to the academic Bernardo Arévalo de León, whom the polls placed in seventh or eighth place.
Sandra Torres, candidate for the National Unity of Hope party.
Since then, the members of the Semilla party warned that there would be intentions to stop his candidacy, which the “Corrupt Pact” did not have, as a group of politicians, businessmen, military and alleged drug traffickers who have “co-opted” to the State” in the opinion of the group.
On July 2, the deputy and the main face of Semilla since its foundation, Samuel Pérez Álvarez, indicated that they feared possible illegal scenarios implemented by the government of Alejandro Giammattei.
“Declare Sandra Torres as president by decree, extend the process indefinitely to leave Giammattei in power, or impose Manuel Conde’s candidacy in the second round so that they only compete among themselves,” observe. To do this, the legislator-elect said that Giammattei could use the Public Ministry “inventing cases.”
However, the candidate Torres demanded that the Giammattei government give up for the situation and expressed solidarity with her opponent. In fact, the former first lady said that she was going to suspend her campaign events until the situation of the Semilla party was resolved. For her part, Arévalo said that he was going to file a lawsuit against the prosecutor’s office.
For Guatemala, politically it may be the most tense moment of the century, even after in 2015 the president at the time, Otto Pérez Molina, had to resign due to evidence of corruption that took him directly from the Presidential Palace to a court. However, on this occasion, unlike that moment, all the sectors involved showed unity.
On the one hand, there are the followers of Semilla and Arévalo de León, who with more than 600,000 votes obtained in the elections, intend to stabilize in the second round scheduled for August 20 in search of the presidency. The international community, social organizations and the business leadership, transcendental for the functioning of the country, have also appeared as defenders of the electoral process.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With EFE
