Guatemala: new attack by the prosecution against a presidential candidate

July 22, 2023

The standoff between the services of the Attorney General of Guatemala and the Social Democratic candidate Bernardo Arévalo, qualified surprise for the second round of the presidential election on August 20, continued Friday with a search at the headquarters of his party.

“The Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, in coordination with the PNC (National Civil Police), is carrying out a search at the headquarters of the political party Semilla”, located in the center of the capital Guatemala, this body wrote on Twitter, in what constitutes a new episode in a presidential campaign marked by judicial acts.

The search began a few hours after the filing of an appeal by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) before the Constitutional Court aimed at preventing the Attorney General’s office from hindering the second round which must oppose Mr. Arévalo to Sandra Torres, also of social democratic sensitivity.

Whoever wins the election will succeed President Alejandro Giammattei on January 14, ending 12 years of right-wing government.

But the ballot still needs to be held. “This act is part of the political persecution of the corrupt minority who know that they are losing power day after day,” said Bernardo Arévalo, son of former President Juan José Arévalo (1945-1951), after the search.

The prosecution explained that the search had been carried out “to obtain clues which solidify the investigation” against the Semilla party for alleged irregularities during its creation in 2017.

Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche began to act against Semilla after the first round of the presidential election on June 25, after which Mr. Arévalo created the surprise by qualifying, behind Mrs. Torres.

Judge Fredy Orellana suspended the party’s legal registration last week at his request, citing alleged irregularities in the registration of its members.

The Constitutional Court however suspended the next day this decision, criticized both in Guatemala and abroad, seen as an attempt to exclude Mr. Arévalo from the second round.

Also on the orders of Mr. Curruchiche, the offices of the TSE were searched twice, in particular because of its refusal to comply with the controversial order of Judge Orellana to disqualify Semilla.

A week ago, he raided the offices of the Citizens Registry at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). An arrest warrant has also been issued against a leader of Semilla.

Although the candidates who won the first round are both Social Democrats, the actions of the prosecution and Judge Orellana focus on Mr. Arévalo. He is probably considered by powerful sectors in the country as a danger to their interests.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed concern on Friday about “interference in the electoral process in Guatemala, in a context of lack of independence of the public ministry and its attorney general” Consuelo Porras.

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, condemned “attacks for political purposes”.

In a press release, the government described as “surprising and lamentable” the recourse of the TSE, considering that the executive had provided “all the guarantees of protection and access to the vote during the electoral process”.

In its appeal to the Constitutional Court, the TSE asks it to order the public prosecutor, but also the police, the army, the Supreme Court and other institutions of the country to guarantee the second round.

The TSE considers that there is “a certain, future and imminent threat that the denounced authorities violate the democratic rule of law by not guaranteeing the exercise of the functions of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, temporary electoral bodies and citizens in general”.

The current political system “is afraid of losing power”, underlines to AFP Manfredo Marroquin, of the NGO Accion Ciudadana, the local section of Transparency International. “They are in panic mode and are looking at all costs for the last resort in their hands to thwart Arévalo’s victory.”

Dozens of supporters of Mr. Arévalo gathered outside the party headquarters at the time of the search.

“Curruchiche is not a prosecutor, he is a criminal,” protesters chanted about the official listed by the United States in 2022 on a list of Central American nationals linked to “corrupt and undemocratic acts”.

“Attempts to revoke the election results” will inevitably “have an impact on Guatemala’s international relations, including with” the European Union, warned Peter Stano, an EU spokesman.