The Attorney General, Consuelo Porras, undertook in 2023, after the electoral triumph of Arévalo de León, a judicial persecution against the now ruler, who denounced in September of that same year a “coup d’état” against him to prevent him from taking office in January 2024.
On Wednesday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Prosecutor’s Office) of Guatemala launched a new attack on the government presided over , with an alleged case of corruption in the Ministry of Communications, and called for the president to be left without immunity.
The case was presented at a press conference by prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and the Secretary General of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Ángel Pineda, both sanctioned by the United States, Canada and the European Union under serious allegations of corruption and of wanting to modify the electoral results of 2023.
The alleged case against Arévalo de León stems from the dismissal last May of the Minister of Communications at the time, Jazmín de la Vega, whom the ruler removed from the post after he issued payments to construction companies without his authorization.
According to Curruchiche, the arbitrary decision of Arévalo de León is illegal and for this reason they have called for the removal of his immunity from office, following a complaint launched by Ricardo Méndez Ruiz, leader of a far-right foundation and also sanctioned by the United States with the prohibition of entry into its territory.
Curruchiche, Pineda and the Attorney General, Consuelo Porras Argueta, began in 2023, after the electoral triumph of Arévalo de León, a judicial persecution against the now ruler, who denounced in September of that same year a “coup d’état” against him to prevent him from taking office in January 2024.
Regarding the accusation on Wednesday, the official bench, the Seed Movement, replied in its official networks against the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the new case to try to overthrow the political group that took Arévalo de León to the presidency.
“Curruchiche is a desperate incompetent,” said Congressman Samuel Pérez Álvarez, one of the leaders of the official party.
In the same vein, Congresswoman Andrea Reyes Zeceña said that the accusation is armed with “ridiculous tits and conjecture” and is “a shame for a people who are hungry and thirsty for justice.”
Similarly, the legislator recalled that no more than 100 complaints have been investigated against previous governments, documented by the Administration of Arévalo de León in its first months.
The judicial persecution against the Seed and Arévalo de León Movement, with several court cases against him, came after the academic won the presidential elections in 2023 with an anti-corruption speech. The political group was born precisely from the demonstrations against corruption of Otto Pérez Molina’s government in 2015.
This article has been translated after first appearing in La Prensa Grafica