Caravans of vehicles protested attempts to reverse the election results in Guatemala

Several convoys of vehicles demonstrated on Tuesday in Guatemala in Against attempts to reverse the election results To avoid the inauguration of the president-elect next January, Bernardo Arevalo de Leon.

The caravans coming from the west of the Central American country ended their journey in downtown Guatemala City, where they joined Indigenous organizations and other sectors to protest in defense of democracy.

However, several of them reported that the National Civil Police stopped several vehicles in the convoy heading to the capital at a checkpoint.

“We, as ancestral authorities, have come to demand the collective right The individual right of our people“, a leader of indigenous organizations told the crowd, in the historic center of the metropolitan capital.

He added: “We are here, but not to defend a political party or the elected presidential duo. He added, without mentioning his identity, “We are here to defend our country’s democracy.”

Tuesday’s protest in the center of the country’s capital was called last week by indigenous organizations and with the support of the Solola District Transport Union, organizers of the caravans, after a new movement by the Public Ministry (Public Prosecutor’s Office). ) against the elected president and his party.

On November 16, the Public Prosecution requested the withdrawal of immunity from the elected president and vice president. Karen Herrerain an alleged case related to crimes against national heritage.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office indicated in a press conference on Thursday that the case dates back to the forceful seizure in 2022 of the campus of the University of San Carlos (the only public university), by dozens of students, in rejection of the elections held that year. A year in a higher education institution.

Arevalo de Leon had warned since September 1 that the Attorney General, Consuelo BorrasA “coup” is being carried out against him to prevent him from assuming office on January 14.

On November 17, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio GuterresHe noted that he was “disturbed” by the recent actions taken by the Attorney General’s Office, and called on “the authorities to ensure respect for the democratic will expressed at the ballot boxes.”

Arevalo de León surprisingly won this year’s elections in Guatemala thanks to the progressive group Movimiento Semela, born out of the 2015 anti-corruption demonstrations that led to the fall of Guatemala’s government. Otto Perez Molina (2012-2015).

(With information from EFE)