Guatemala Election Watch #45 →

Marching With the President and VP-elects for Democracy
and a New Direction for Guatemala
As Electoral Coup D'Etat Plotters Raise the Stakes

On December 7, thousands of Guatemalans – Indigenous and ladino – joined President-elect Bernardo Arevalo and VP-elect Karin Herrera in a five hour march through the streets of Guatemala City. The march began before the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), continued to the Constitutional Court (CC), before ending at the Office of the Public Prosecutor (MP).

Below: Photos from the march

Since June 26 (day after the first round of elections), corrupted judges and prosecutors in the SCJ, CC and MP, have been orchestrating an endless stream of ‘criminalization’ attacks on the electoral process and results, on the Semilla Party (that Arevalo and Herrera are members of), on members of the Semilla Party, and on the President and VP-elects directly!

On December 8, the MP’s office fired the latest attack on the elections. In a press conference, prosecutors Rafael Curruchiche and Leonor Morales demanded that the general elections be annulled due to alleged anomalies in the electoral documents.

The tenacity of the MP, CC and SCJ in using and abusing the legal system and administration of justice to try and overthrow the elections, and indeed the rule of law itself, would be spectacular were it not so dangerous and threatening.

Waiting in the wings are the historically repressive military and police forces. It would be naïve to rule out the possibility that sectors of the Covenant of the Corrupt elites organize and pay for death squads to carry out targeted violence or killings.

U.S. and Canadian-fomented corrupt system

Never forget that the US and Canadian governments, and countless north american companies and banks have happily done business with and maintained full political relations for decads with these very same corrupted officials and institutions. 

Recently, the Canadian government included Guatemala as a “democratic allie” member of the Lima Group, spearheaded by Canada in support of U.S.-led efforts to demonize, isolate and weaken the government of Venezuela.

In TESTIMONIO-Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala, co-edited by Catherine Nolin and Grahame Russell, we detail how corruption and impunity (let alone violence, evictions and widespread harms) characterize just about every aspect of the Canadian-led, global mining industry operating in Guatemala, and that this was known, or should have been known by the Canadian government, investors and shareholders.

Marching for Democracy and a New Direction for Guatemala

In the middle, VP-elect Karin Herrera stands beside President election Bernardo Arevalo, in front of the Constitutional Court, kicking off the march at 8am. Photo @FestivalesSolidarios

Denouncing the electoral coup d’etat efforts of Consulto Porras (head of the MP’s office), President Giammattei and prosecutor Curruchiche. Photo @PrensaComunitaria

Denouncing the electoral coup d’etat efforts of Consulto Porras (head of the MP’s office), President Giammattei and prosecutor Curruchiche. Photo @PrensaComunitaria

President and VP-elects in the middle. Photo Grahame Russell

In front of the Constitutional Court. Photo (blurry) Grahame Russell

No to the coup d’etat. I am here for all the exiled people. Photo @FestivalesSolidarios

Citizen Movement from the South Coast. Photo Grahame Russell

“Out with Desconsuelo”. (Play on word of name of head of the MP’s office, meaning unconsoulable). “The corrupt ones have to go. Out with the rats.” Photo Grahame Russell

Indigenous campesino affiliated with CUC (Campesino Unity Committee). Photo Grahame Russell

Ancestral authorities of the Maya Achi people from Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. Photo Grahame Russell

“We reject the budget just passed by the ‘Covenant of the Corrupt’. We voted for President Arevalo. Accept that you have lost, you shameless corrupt ones”. Photo Grahame Russell

“That everyone may stand up so that no one is left behind”, sign of the Maya Quiche community of the 48 Cantones. Photo Grahame Russell

“The people rule. Because the future can be beautiful”

Electoral coup d’etat: ‘Death by a 1000 cuts’

The Pacto de Corruptos (‘Covenant of the Corrupt’) government and traditional elites of Guatemala – longtime “democratic allies” of the U.S., Canada, E.U., World Bank and transnational corporations – continue to try and block or overthrow the August 20, 2023 elections, won by President-elect Bernardo Arevalo & VP-elect Karin Herrera of the Semilla Party.

1 month, 5 days until Jan.14, 2024 transfer of power
Stay tuned … This is not over

Guatemala Election Watch alerts:
www.rightsaction.org/emails

Rights Action calls for Americans and Canadians to keep sharing these informations widely (including media outlets), and to contact your Senators, Members of Congress and Parliamentarian, urge them to publicly support the Semilla Party and President-elect Bernardo Arevalo and VP-elect Karin Herrera, and to support calls for the main coup plotters to resign: Attorney General Consuelo Porras, special prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, Judge Fredy Orellana.

More information