Guatemala Election Watch #5

Corrupted “suspension” order defeated, provisionally!
Risk increases that corrupted criminal charges will be filed against Semilla Party members

It would be hard to describe how tense and volatile yesterday –July 13- was in Guatemala as the ‘CovenantOfTheCorrupt’ regime attempted, via its corrupted Public Prosecutor’s office, to “suspend” the legal status of the Semilla Party, that is widely favored to win the August 20 runoff election.
 

  • Early on July 14, State investigators and police, many wearing facemasks, illegally raided the offices of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and confiscated – with no respect for legally required chain of custody/ inventory procedures – thousands of files, purported related to alleged criminal actions carried out by the Semilla Party and or its members.

  • Thousands of Guatemalans immediately took to the streets in the capital, across the country.

  • Led by independent outlets, the media – with some mainstream media starting to do their jobs right – is providing 24/7 coverage to the efforts of the CovenantOfTheCorrupt regime to carry out the ‘electoral’ coup.

  • Internationally, civil society, some governments and media chimed, reporting on and denouncing the continuing acts of illegal election interference.

  • Lawyers filed immediate legal challenges to the corrupted “suspension” order of the Public Prosecutor’s office.

By days end, the Constitutional Court was forced to provisionally - yes, only provisionally! - suspend the corrupted “suspension” order, and enable the Semilla Party to continue advancing towards the August 20 runoff election.
 
What is next?
Besides the omni-present threat of violence – widespread repression against protests and/or possible repression targeting key Semilla Party members, there is now a risk that the corrupted Public Prosecutor’s office will open formal criminal investigations against key members of the Semilla Party, and possibly move to detain them.
 
“As explained by the lawyers, the [prosecutors] can carry out raids, request arrest warrants or requests for withdrawal of legal immunity against members of the Semilla party, all related to the case that was announced for the alleged falsification of signatures to incorporate affiliates to the party.”
(Amparo garantiza participación de Semilla, pero riesgo de criminalización persiste, julio 13, 2023, Por Prensa Comunitaria, https://prensacomunitaria.org/2023/07/amparo-garantiza-participacion-de-semilla-pero-riesgo-de-criminalizacion-persiste/)
 
For anyone remotely following human rights issues in Guatemala, over the past years –indeed decades-, the regime has corrupted the judicial branch and uses the Public Prosecutor’s office as a tool of repression, filing trumped up charges to then arrest whoever they are seeking to silence.

Chess board. CovenantOfTheCorrupt moves Public Prosecutor’s office: “Check, to democracy!”
@ Filochofo, July 14, 2023

37 days to go to the August runoff. Stay tuned.
 
Beyond these malicious “legal” attacks against the Semilla Party and the electoral process itself, violence and repression cannot be ruled out, given the corrupt and repressive nature of Guatemala’s ruling elites who are confronting the reality that, for the first time (arguably since 1951), an actually democratic alternative -the Semilla Party- is likely to be voted into power.
 
As the Guatemalan people continue to fight for democracy, against a government and State co-opted by the 'PactoDeCorruptos' regime, a longtime "democratic ally" of the US, Canada and EU, Rights Action calls on Canadians and Americans to share this information widely (including media outlets), contact your elected Senators, Members of Congress and Parliamentarians and urge them -and the US and Canadian governments- to make public statements and bring all pressures to bear on Guatemalan political and legal authorities to ensure that the electoral process proceeds immediately and transparently to the August 20 runoff election and the Semilla Party is allowed to participate fully and properly, with no further attacks of any kind.
 

 
Grahame Russell
info@rightsaction.org

Movimiento Semilla party
www.moviemientosemilla.gt
Facebook: MovimientoSemilla
Twitter: @semillagt
 
Recent background
 
Guatemala Election Watch #1 – July 2, 2023
Real democracy in Guatemala? Semilla Party now favored to win Presidential election on August 20
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/real-democracy-in-guatemala-1
 
Guatemala Election Watch #2 – July 3, 2023
Is the electoral fraud fix in, in Guatemala? ‘Covenant of the Corrupt’ regime weaponizing legal system to attack Semilla Party electoral results
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/is-the-electoral-fraud-fix-in-in-guatemala
 
Guatemala Election Watch #3 – July 10, 2023
Electoral re-count re-confirms Semilla Movement Party success in first round of Presidential Election
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/electoral-re-count-re-confirms-semilla-movement-party-success
 
Guatemala Election Watch #4 – July 13, 2023
Coup d'état being attempted in Guatemala. Semilla Party "suspended" from elections
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/coup-being-attempted-in-guatemala-semilla-party-suspended-from-elections

Source: https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/corrupted-...