Semilla Party Relaunches Run-Off Campaign
34 days to go to August 20th run-off vote. Stay tuned
Watch a short Al Jazeera English interview with Bernardo Arevalo, Semilla Party's Presidential candidate (@BArevalodeLeon).
Campaigning for the presidential election has resumed in Guatemala, after two weeks of illegal government and State attacks on the electoral process itself, and against the Semilla Party.
These attacks were met with a huge, and still growing citizen movement across the country in defense of the electoral process.
This short Al Jazeera video clip provides a snap shot of who Bernardo Arevalo is and a little bit of the hopeful mood in the country. In the run-off scheduled for August 20, Bernardo Arevalo faces former first lady Sandra Torres and her UNE party.
While the path has been cleared for now, for the Semilla Party to campaign for the run-off vote, no one believes the Covenant of the Corrupt traditional elites are finished with attempts to prevent the Semilla Party from participating in the August 20 deciding vote. It would be misguided to rule out the use of widespread repression against the general public and/or targeted attacks against members of the Semilla Party.
No mention of complicity of “international community”
As with most mainstream media coverage, this Al Jazeera piece provides no mention of seven decades of full political, economic and military support that the US, Canada, the EU, World Bank and IMF, plus countless transnational companies, have provided to successive ‘Covenant of the Corrupt’ regimes (always referred to as “democratic allies”) that have corrupted almost every State institution in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, including the police and military.
It is hard to overstate the enormity of the challenge that Bernardo Arevalo and the Semilla Party are facing, just to get to the August 20 run-off vote, let alone govern the country if indeed they win the elections as is widely expected now.
34 days to go to the August 20 runoff. Stay tuned.
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 to make public statements and bring all pressures to bear on Guatemalan political and legal authorities to ensure that the electoral process proceeds transparently and peacefully and the Semilla Party is allowed to participate fully and properly, with no further attacks of any kind.
U.S. Senate: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact
U.S. House: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Canadian Parliament: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members
Grahame Russell
info@rightsaction.org
Movimiento Semilla party
www.moviemientosemilla.gt
Facebook: MovimientoSemilla
Twitter: @semillagt
For up-to-date information, follow twitter feeds of Festivales Solidarios (@festivalesgt) and Prensa Comunitaria (@PrensaCommunitar). Read PrensaComunitaria’s daily news (https://prensacomunitaria.org/).
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
Guatemala Election Watch #5 – July 14, 2023
Corrupted “suspension” order defeated, provisionally!
Risk increases that corrupted criminal charges will be filed against Semilla Party members
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/corrupted-suspension-order-defeated-provisionally
