Hundreds of riot police are forced to retreat and retreat from one of the most popular neighborhoods in Guatemala City. The residents of La Bethania, in zone 7, united to prevent the agents from removing a blockade in one of the main arteries of the capital that they have maintained for 12 days. Riding hundreds of motorcycles, they surrounded the uniformed officers who found themselves outnumbered and had to abandon the order of the president, Alejandro Giammattei, who intended to put an end by force to this form of protest that prevents the passage of vehicles.
A protester stood in front of a line of riot police and reminded them of the condition of the population to put an end to the more than a hundred blockades that have been on the roads throughout the country for more than a week: “We demand the resignation of the Attorney General, Consuelo Porras, the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), Rafael Curruchiche, the prosecutor Cinthia Monterroso and the judge of the Seventh Court, Fredy Orellana”.
“We are defending democracy, but we no longer want a corrupt pact that is stealing everything from us here in Guatemala, nor do we want to go to a hospital where people die in emergencies because there is nothing, not even education that is blocked,” stressed the woman, who confronted the police officers, reminding them that “they are not obliged to follow the orders of the high command, who only wants to destabilize the population.”
The so-called Indefinite National Strike was promoted by the indigenous authorities of different departments of the country led by the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán and those from Sololá and Quiché, who for 12 days have maintained a constant demonstration in front of the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office. Thousands of people surround the building and have already warned that they have no intention of leaving until the three prosecutors and the judge whom they call “coup plotters” resign from their positions.
The straw that broke the population’s back was the irruption of the FECI prosecutors at the headquarters of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on September 30, where they stole boxes with electoral records numbers 4 and 8 containing the results of the elections that gave the candidate of the Semilla Movement, Bernardo Arévalo, as the winner. The TSE magistrates themselves tried to prevent these documents from being taken by getting in the way of the prosecutors, although they could not prevent it and even received pushes from the prosecutors. Although the magistrates went to the Constitutional Court (CC) to put an end to this action that they called “illegal”, they could not stop the onslaught of the Prosecutor’s Office. Thus, the FECI, in collusion with Judge Orellana, seeks to cancel the legal personality of the Semilla Movement based on an investigation into alleged false signatures in the constitution of this political party, which won the second round of the elections held on August 20. .
TRAFFIC FOR DANCES AND GAMES
This judicial persecution of Semilla has provoked the most massive demonstrations in the history of this Central American country, even surpassing the 2015 mobilizations that triggered the fall of then-president Otto Pérez Molina, who is in prison after being convicted of two cases of corruption. . Citizens have taken to the roads, replacing traffic with dance classes, children’s games or soccer fields while defending democracy as a community. Meanwhile, thousands of truck, vehicle and motorcycle drivers wait patiently to be given way for a few minutes, sometimes on the condition that they dance. The National Palace is also the scene of daily protests and even last Monday the police fired gas at the protesters, after several infiltrators threw sticks and objects at the officers and destroyed public furniture, which led to the arrest of six adults and three teenagers. .
A delegation from the Organization of American States (OAS) is trying to mediate between the president, Alejandro Giammattei, and the indigenous authorities, although the president refuses to demand the resignation of Consuelo Porras, whom he re-elected as attorney general after being appointed for this position in the last legislature. Giammattei sent a letter to Bernardo Arévalo in which he blames him for the “ungovernability” in the country by “encouraging” the demonstrations and blockades with “false and non-existent theories of alleged coups d’état.”
The president-elect himself, who will assume power on January 14, 2024, delivered a response letter to the National Palace in which he accuses Giammattei of being “mainly responsible for the crisis” and of “inciting violence.” Likewise, he reminds him that “he has the key in his hand to disarm this crisis” by asking for the resignation of Porras, who refuses to leave his position and has even asked the Police to use force so that the protesters clear the entrance to the Prosecutor’s Office. This is a battle between citizens and the State, which has plunged the country into a political crisis and whose winner today is unknown.