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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/02/06/guatemala-blocks-leftist-indigenous-leader-from-presidential-race-in-electoral-coup/">geopoliticaleconomy.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Guatemala blocks leftist Indigenous leader from presidential race, in ‘electoral coup’</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Jimmy Zúñiga Wallace and Ben Norton - February 6, 2023<br></div>
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<img src="cid:ii_ldvw6q720" alt="image.png" width="392" height="221"><br><p>Guatemala’s notoriously corrupt right-wing government has blocked a
prominent leftist Indigenous leader from running in the June 2023
presidential election, in a move that international observers have
condemned as an “electoral coup”.</p>
<p>Nearly half of Guatemalans (44%) <a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/bloggers/Guatemala-Estado-restringe-derechos-politicos-a-los-pueblos-originarios-20230206-0001.html">identify as Indigenous</a>.
The Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples (MLP) is a left-wing
party that was created to represent the First Nations who have for so
long been ignored by Guatemala’s political system.</p>
<p>The MLP is led by Thelma Cabrera, a social movement activist and
human rights defender from the Maya Mam community. She has pledged to
fight poverty in Guatemala (one of the poorest countries in the region),
resist neoliberalism, and <a href="https://prensacomunitaria.org/2019/05/de-la-resistencia-contra-el-neoliberalismo-a-la-busqueda-de-la-fundacion-del-estado-plurinacional/">establish a plurinational state</a> that gives full rights to Indigenous nations, like Bolivia.</p>
<p>The newly created MLP party ran for the first time in the 2019
presidential election. Cabrera came in fourth place, winning more than
10% of the vote in the first round, compared to just 14% for current
right-wing President Alejandro Giammattei.</p>
<p>Since then, the MLP has only become more popular, gaining support
across Guatemala. Giammattei, a staunch conservative and wealthy dual
citizen of Italy, has seen the growth of the MLP as a threat.</p>
<p>The MLP’s vice-presidential candidate is Jordán Rodas Andrade. He was
appointed Guatemala’s human rights ombudsman in 2017. Before his term
ended in 2022, Rodas had become well known for his criticism of
President Giammattei and the blatant corruption in his government.</p>
<p>Upon leaving the position, Rodas condemned Guatemala’s wealthy corporate oligarchs. “They think they are the <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2022-08-05/los-grandes-empresarios-se-creen-los-duenos-de-la-finca-le-han-hecho-mucho-dano-a-guatemala.html">plantation owners</a>. They have done so much damage to this country”, he said.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="es">Aceptamos el reto y la responsabilidad de los delegados/as del MLP. <a href="https://t.co/BpKjFV42jQ">pic.twitter.com/BpKjFV42jQ</a></p>
<p>— Thelma Cabrera Pérez DD. HH. (@ThelmaCabreraP2) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThelmaCabreraP2/status/1608185384525090819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>In late January 2023, Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE)
blocked Cabrera and Rodas from participating in the upcoming election,
which will be held on June 25.</p>
<p>Guatemalan social movement activists and international observers have
reported that the TSE is deeply politicized and acts in the interests
of Giammattei and the country’s powerful oligarchs.</p>
<p>Cabrera and her MLP party filed an appeal, but on February 2, the TSE ruled against them, officially banning them from the race.</p>
<p>The Guatemalan electoral authority claimed they cannot run because their application was “invalid”.</p>
<p>Cabrera shared the <a href="https://twitter.com/ThelmaCabreraP2/status/1617181680912957440">completed paperwork</a>
on Twitter, insisting that “we fulfilled all the legal requirements”.
Rodas also explained that he submitted all the required paperwork, and a
review of his record found no legal cases or complaints against him.</p>
<p>“Any additional requirement is not found in the law; it cannot be
invoked to avoid my candidacy and violate my right to be elected”, he
said.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="es">Cualquier requisito adicional no se encuentra en
ley, no puede ser invocado para evitar mi candidatura y violentar mi
derecho a ser electo. La existencia de denuncias espurias no es
impedimento para ser inscrito. Al revisar el QR de mi finiquito no
registra ninguna denuncia. <a href="https://t.co/eC5KcYEgpJ">pic.twitter.com/eC5KcYEgpJ</a></p>
<p>— Jordán Rodas Andrade (@JordanRodas) <a href="https://twitter.com/JordanRodas/status/1619510532415066114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<h3>Guatemala’s ‘electoral coup’ bans leftists while allowing convicted
drug money launderers and family members of war criminals to run for
office</h3>
<p>Hundreds of activists protested at the TSE, condemning the electoral
court’s decision. An MLP supporter said, “If you all don’t register our
candidates, <a href="https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/guatemala-elecciones_seguidores-de-l%C3%ADder-ind%C3%ADgena-exigen-se-apruebe-su-candidatura-en-guatemala/48254916">there won’t be elections</a>”. Their movement has vowed to go on strike and hold large demonstrations until the decision is reversed.</p>
<p>Even Western government-funded organizations that are deeply biased
against the Latin American left have warned that the Giammattei
government is increasingly authoritarian.</p>
<p>The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), which is <a href="https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/reference_docs/International_IDEA-Annual_Review_2021.pdf">funded by the US government</a>
and multiple European states, has long shown prejudice in support of
the Latin American right. But IDEA’s regional director, Daniel Zovatto,
admitted that TSE’s ban of Cabrera and Rodas is a kind of “<a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2023-02-03/el-tribunal-electoral-de-guatemala-rechaza-las-candidaturas-de-la-formula-de-izquierda-critica-con-el-gobierno-de-giammattei.html">electoral coup</a>”.</p>
<p>“The decision declaring inadmissible the appeal for annulment by the
MLP, leaving the Cabrera-Rodas ticket out of the electoral contest, is
an ‘electoral coup’ that corrupts the integrity and credibility of the
elections”, Zovatto said.</p>
<p>Vicenta Jerónimo, the lone MLP representative in Guatemala’s
congress, referred to the struggle as “a battle of the oligarchy against
the peoples”.</p>
<p>“That is because we also know that all state institutions are
co-opted in the hands of corrupt thieves in this country”, she said.</p>
<p>In one of the many demonstrations that have taken place throughout
the country, Jerónimo stated, “We also see in the Supreme Electoral
Tribunal that they have registered children of the genocide that
murdered my parents, my grandparents, my uncles in the armed conflict”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="es"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ahora?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ahora</a>
| La diputada del MLP, Vicenta Jerónimo, está frente al TSE acompañado a
simpatizantes del partido que exigen la inscripción del binomio Thelma
Cabrera y Jordán Rodas. <a href="https://t.co/3G2aljhz37">pic.twitter.com/3G2aljhz37</a></p>
<p>— Plaza Pública (@PlazaPublicaGT) <a href="https://twitter.com/PlazaPublicaGT/status/1621172857509392384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Jerónimo was alluding to Zury Ríos, a right-wing presidential
candidate who is the daughter of Guatemala’s former dictator Efraín Ríos
Montt.</p>
<p>The United States supported the Ríos Montt regime in the 1980s, as he
massacred Indigenous communities. In 2013, he was sentenced for crimes
against humanity and genocide.</p>
<p>An independent truth commission found that, during Guatemala’s civil war, the US-backed military carried out <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/1997/02/truth-commission-guatemala">93% of civilian killings</a>, whereas socialist guerrillas were responsible for just 3%.</p>
<p>It is estimated that as a result of the genocide perpetrated by Ríos
Montt, at least 200,000 children became orphans and around 5,000 more
disappeared.</p>
<p>The vast majority of attacks perpetrated by the Guatemalan military
against the population were against civilians who had no connection to
the conflict.</p>
<p>Ironically, Zury Ríos launched her presidential campaign for the 2023
elections despite having a constitutional ban that kept her <a href="https://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/politica/zury-rios-queda-fuera-de-la-contienda/">out of the race in 2019</a>, due to her close ties with her father.</p>
<p>But the TSE is now <a href="https://forbesenespanol.com/centroamerica/2023/02/04/tribunal-de-guatemala-da-luz-verde-a-candidatura-presidencial-de-hija-de-dictador-rios-montt">allowing Zury Ríos to run</a>.
The same electoral body that once banned the proud, unapologetic
daughter of a convicted war criminal is today blocking the candidacy of
an Indigenous leader and prominent human rights defender.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="es">Madre mía te recuerdo hoy desde tu tierra, esto es por ti, esto es por Guatemala . <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chimaltenango?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chimaltenango</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tecp%C3%A1n?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tecpán</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AhoraSiElPuebloManda?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AhoraSiElPuebloManda</a> <a href="https://t.co/W0DK86tL9s">pic.twitter.com/W0DK86tL9s</a></p>
<p>— Zury Rios (@ZuryxGuate) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZuryxGuate/status/1621928999332024322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Likewise, the TSE has allowed wealthy right-wing businessman Manuel
Baldizón to run in the 2023 elections, despite the fact that he was
imprisoned in the United States for laundering drug money, and <a href="https://lahora.gt/nacionales/diego/2023/02/05/baldizon-dice-que-pudo-quedarse-en-estados-unidos-pero-fue-deportado/">deported to Guatemala</a> in 2022.</p>
<p><a href="https://lahora.gt/nacionales/hquino/2023/02/05/cambio-proclama-a-su-binomio-presidencial-manuel-baldizon-e-hijo-buscan-llegar-al-congreso/">Baldizón is running for congress</a>,
as part of the right-wing Cambio party. His son Jorge Eduardo Baldizón
Vargas is also a congressional candidate, and their fellow family member
Álvaro Manuel Trujillo Baldizón is running for president.</p>
<h3>Why is the Guatemalan oligarchy afraid of Thelma Cabrera and Jordán Rodas?</h3>
<p>When Thelma Cabrera won more than 10% of the vote in the first round
of the 2019 election, coming just a few points shy of making the
run-off, she frightened Guatemala’s oligarchy.</p>
<p>Among the ideas she was advocating for included recovering
territories exploited by agribusiness and extractive corporations,
creating an anti-monopoly law, asserting collective rights of the lands
of Indigenous peoples, and reducing poverty in one of the poorest
countries in the region.</p>
<p>These proposals are very popular among working-class Guatemalans.
This explains the large protests the country has seen in response to the
TSE ban.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="es"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elecciones2023?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Elecciones2023</a> Jordán Rodas: las “cortes deberán restaurar nuestros derechos”.</p>
<p>Luego
que el TSE rechazara la inscripción de Thelma Cabrera y Jordán Rodas,
el ex PDH anunció que el proceso jurídico lo trasladarán a la CSJ.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/iespinoza_gt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iespinoza_gt</a><a href="https://t.co/o4hGbZNjjw">https://t.co/o4hGbZNjjw</a></p>
<p>— PrensaComunitaria (@PrensaComunitar) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrensaComunitar/status/1621565496129724417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Cabrera is also a supporter of Latin American integration, and has praised other left-wing governments in the region.</p>
<p>Under Giammattei, Guatemala recognized <a href="https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/16/end-juan-guaido-venezuela-coup/">US-appointed coup leader Juan Guaidó</a>
as supposed “interim president” of Venezuela. In 2019, he
unsuccessfully tried to enter Venezuela using his Italian passport,
hoping to meet with Guaidó.</p>
<p>Guatemala’s right-wing regime is one of the very few governments in Latin America that has supported Ukraine in the <a href="https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/29/latin-america-ukraine-weapons-brazil-colombia-argentina/">NATO proxy war against Russia</a>. Cabrera criticized Giammattei for visiting Kiev and posing for photos with its Western-backed leader Volodymyr Zelensky.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="es"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Guate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Guate</a> El caporal del <a href="https://twitter.com/CACIFGuatemala?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CACIFGuatemala</a> Candil en la calle, obscuridad en su casa… <a href="https://t.co/Kz5zppDBuu">pic.twitter.com/Kz5zppDBuu</a></p>
<p>— Thelma Cabrera Pérez DD. HH. (@ThelmaCabreraP2) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThelmaCabreraP2/status/1552668806375526402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>The next step for Cabrera and her running mate Jordán Rodas will be
to appeal the TSE’s decision at Guatemala’s Supreme Court of Justice.</p>
<p>In the mean time, their Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples is
organizing protests, demanding systemic change in the country.</p>
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