International Community Expresses Concerns with Assault on Democracy in Guatemala

Guatemala’s troubled electoral process continues to suffer attacks, generating condemnation from observers.

BY JEFF ABBOTT SEPTEMBER 20, 2023 10:51 AM

Hundreds gathered outside Guatemala’s supreme court on September 18 in a show of support for Guatemala’s new president-elect Bernardo Arévalo, as he and his party filed an official request for the prosecution of María Consuelo Porras, the country’s attorney general. The attempt to impeach the embattled attorney general comes after she and her office have sought to intervene in the electoral process through seeking to investigate and suspend the Movimiento Semilla Party.

There have been deep seated concerns within Guatemala and coming from the international community regarding Guatemala’s presidential transition since the August 20 run-off election, which resulted in the progressive anti-corruption candidate’s historic victory. The worries stem from the continual interference in the electoral process by the country’s Public Prosecutor’s office, leading Arévalo and his Movimiento Semilla Party to officially suspend the transition process on September 12.

The concerns and the decision to suspend the transition process followed illegal raids by investigators from the Public Prosecutor’s office—supported by heavily armed security—of Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal, as well as the Citizens’ Registry, and the facility housing the boxes containing ballots from both the June 25 and the August 20 elections. In a surprise escalation, investigators forcibly opened the ballot boxes in direct violation of the country’s electoral law.

The move is being seen by Renzo Rosal, a Guatemalan independent political analyst, as a show of force by the embattled attorney general.

“It is clearly illegal,” Rosal tells The Progressive. “They know it's illegal, everyone knows it's illegal, but just saying it's illegal doesn't matter [to them]. They did what they did last week, they could do it today, they could do it tomorrow and there is no one who can oppose them.”

More:
https://progressive.org/latest/international-community-expresses-concerns-abbott-20230920/





Attorney General of Guatemala,
María Consuelo Porras



J. Edgar, er, María Consuelo Porras