The president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo, announced through his social networks a citizen march for Thursday, December 7, 2023. In his words, mobilization is – in the defense of truth, justice and democracy.
In the recording, Arévalo said that the time has come to stop the “corrupts of always who have injured the most sensitive fibers of society,” denying the freedom to choose […].
The president-elect emphasized his message that this event not only seeks to denounce what it considers corrupt interference, but also to involve Guatemalan society.
Are we going through a moment that demands clarity and decision on our part. “A moment with no place for tidlings, for complicit silences or ambiguities,” he said in his statement.
Arévalo explained that the mobilization will be peaceful and thus called for all democratic forces, including mayors, deputies, and also convening leaders from different sectors as religious, political, business and student.
“It will be not only a demonstration of protest but an affirmation of our identity as a people,” he said almost at the end of his message.
The 48 cantons of Totonicapán supported the call for December 7, starting at 8 a.m., concentrating on the Supreme Court of Justice. During the march they will then go to the Constitutional Court and then to the seat of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
On Monday, December 4, ancestral authorities also participated in a march to reject the 2024 budget approved by the Congress of the Republic and to request the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras and other officials.
Arévalo’s call for a march next Thursday was announced in the context of the announcement that the United States is promoting that the Organization of American States (OAS) intensify its response to what they consider to be “attacks” on democracy in Guatemala, specifically referring to the actions of the Prosecutor’s Office against the president-elect.
The U.S. ambassador to the OAS, Francisco Mora, announced that his country is in talks to create a more serious draft resolution – in the face of a growing attack on democracy in Guatemala.
At the extraordinary session of the OAS on Monday, December 4, Mora warned that, if the body does not act now, the impact will extend beyond Guatemala.
In the request for the meeting made by representatives of five countries, it is mentioned that the Guatemalan Congress voted in favour of withdrawing the immunity of four officials of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
Guatemala does not agree, said Foreign Minister Mario Búcaro, while ensuring that Alejandro Giammattei’s transition to Arévalo transition process continues to develop peacefully, contrary to what the speakers said.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared on Prensa