[News] Guatemala: President Elect Denounces Ongoing Coup d’État

Sat Sep 2 12:59:29 EDT 2023

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Guatemala: President Elect Denounces Ongoing Coup d’État
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5–6 minutes
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[image: Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo in a press conference
with Vice President-elect Karin Herrera, in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Photo: Esteban Biba/EFE.]

Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo in a press conference with Vice
President-elect Karin Herrera, in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Photo: Esteban
Biba/EFE.

The president-elect of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, denounced “a coup
d’état in progress” in the country, where the Congress has refused to
recognize the parliamentary bloc of his party, the Semilla Movement, after
the party’s legal status was temporarily suspended by the judiciary.

“We are witnessing an ongoing coup d’état, in which the judicial apparatus
is being used to violate justice itself, mocking the people’s will freely
expressed at the ballot on August 20,” Arévalo said on Friday, September 1.

In a press conference together with Vice President-elect Karin Herrera,
Arévalo denounced the “spurious, illegitimate, and illegal actions in
different institutions” aimed at “preventing the inauguration of the
elected authorities, including the president, the vice-president, and our
deputies to the Congress of the Republic.”

Bernardo Arévalo, presidente electo en Guatemala destacó en la conferencia
que el aparato de justica busca realizar un golpe de estado. Arévalo junto
a Karin Herrera, vicepresidenta electa ganaron las elecciones por mayoría
el pasado 20 de agosto. at EmisorasUnidas
<https://twitter.com/EmisorasUnidas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@PublinewsGT
<https://twitter.com/PublinewsGT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
pic.twitter.com/FTbY6QRaxh <https://t.co/FTbY6QRaxh>

— Omar Solís (@noel_solis) September 1, 2023
<https://twitter.com/noel_solis/status/1697685239575843056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

He accused the Attorney General Consuelo Porras, Attorney Rafael
Curruchiche, Judge Fredy Orellana, and the Congress and “other corrupt
sectors” of promoting this coup.

“There is a group of corrupt politicians and officials who refuse to accept
the electoral result and have set in motion a plot to break the
constitutional order and violate democracy,” Arévalo stated.

*Guatemalan Congress refuses to recognize Semilla*
The parliamentary board of Guatemala, led by Shirley Rivera, deputy of the
ruling Vamos party, announced on Wednesday, August 30, that Semilla is no
longer a legislative bloc and its five legislators, including Arévalo, were
declared as independents.

The Congress justified this action following the provisional suspension of
the legal status of the Semilla Movement party by the General Directorate
of the Registry of Citizens of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE),
announced on Monday, August 28.

The decision of the TSE complied with the ruling of Orellana, who ordered
the suspension of the Semilla party at the request of the Office of the
Special Prosecutor Against Impunity (FECI), on the grounds of an alleged
fraudulent registration of party members in 2017 and 2018.

In response to the situation in Guatemala, the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights (IACHR) urged all authorities to respect the electoral results.

“The Guatemalan State must respect the results of the elections held in a
free and fair manner, which constitute the maximum expression of the
sovereign will, and one of the main foundations of representative
democracy,” the IACHR said in a press release.

*Call for democracy*
With 100 % of the ballots counted, the TSE officially recognized Arévalo’s
victory with 58 % of the valid votes against 37 % for the former first
lady, Sandra Torres.

However, Arévalo pointed out that there are still four months before the
inauguration, a period in which “these political mafias would try to
consummate the coup d’état.”

“We remind everyone that the resistance of the people for the protection
and defense of the rights and guarantees in our Constitution, such as the
right to peaceful demonstration, are legitimate,” he said.

The president elect called on Guatemalan society to”join forces in defense
of democracy and total respect for the will of the people.”

Guatemalan lawyer and political analyst Oswaldo Samayoa explained that
Arévalo’s statements are in response to the constant attacks against the
popular vote and his party.

(RT
<https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/478485-bernardo-arevalo-denunciar-golpe-estado-guatemala>)
with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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Guatemala: President Elect Denounces Ongoing Coup d’ÉtatSeptember 2, 2023
------------------------------
[image: Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo in a press conference
with Vice President-elect Karin Herrera, in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Photo: Esteban Biba/EFE.]

Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo in a press conference with Vice
President-elect Karin Herrera, in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Photo: Esteban
Biba/EFE.

The president-elect of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, denounced “a coup
d’état in progress” in the country, where the Congress has refused to
recognize the parliamentary bloc of his party, the Semilla Movement, after
the party’s legal status was temporarily suspended by the judiciary.

“We are witnessing an ongoing coup d’état, in which the judicial apparatus
is being used to violate justice itself, mocking the people’s will freely
expressed at the ballot on August 20,” Arévalo said on Friday, September 1.

In a press conference together with Vice President-elect Karin Herrera,
Arévalo denounced the “spurious, illegitimate, and illegal actions in
different institutions” aimed at “preventing the inauguration of the
elected authorities, including the president, the vice-president, and our
deputies to the Congress of the Republic.”

Bernardo Arévalo, presidente electo en Guatemala destacó en la conferencia
que el aparato de justica busca realizar un golpe de estado. Arévalo junto
a Karin Herrera, vicepresidenta electa ganaron las elecciones por mayoría
el pasado 20 de agosto. at EmisorasUnidas
<https://twitter.com/EmisorasUnidas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@PublinewsGT
<https://twitter.com/PublinewsGT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
pic.twitter.com/FTbY6QRaxh <https://t.co/FTbY6QRaxh>

— Omar Solís (@noel_solis) September 1, 2023
<https://twitter.com/noel_solis/status/1697685239575843056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>