▲ The president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, on January 15, when he took office.Photo Afp

Afp

La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, November 29, 2024, p. 22

Guatemala City., A Guatemalan criminal judge ordered the cancellation of President Bernardo Arévalo’s political party, Semilla, for alleged irregularities in its registration, amid a new attack by the Prosecutor’s Office against the president, an action branded as illegal by the ruling political formation.

The Seed party was canceled by Judge Fredy Orellana at the request of the head of the Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, Rafael Curruchiche who, together with the attorney general, Consuelo Porras, has led an offensive against Arévalo since he began his candidacy last year with the promise of fighting corruption , and worsened after his surprise electoral victory that put an end to decades of conservative governments.

Porras, Cucurriche and Orellana are sanctioned by the United States and the European Union, which consider them undemocratic and corrupt.

Semilla had been suspended since Arévalo went to the second round of the elections, due to a criminal process by the prosecutor’s office for alleged irregularities in his training.

Orellana, protected by a law on organized crime that allowed a judge to suspend or cancel legal entities if they committed illicitrushed to dictate the cancellation of the match, before a reform on that point of the norm, approved by Congress on Monday, comes into effect.

With the reform that we approved we have sufficient instruments to recover the party […] Now the one who will have to answer for his illegal acts is Judge Orellanastated the head of the Semilla bench, Samuel Pérez. A judge cannot suspend or cancel a political partyhe added, Prensa Libre reported.

Curruchiche affirmed that the cancellation is based on the acceptance of charges by one of the four defendants in the Semilla case, the former deputy and official of the current government Ligia Hernández, who, after spending 90 days in prison, said that she took the difficult decision to accept the acceptance of charges to regain his freedom, since Guatemala already has enough martyrs and I will not be one morereported the Guatemalan agency AGN.

Maneuvers

In 10 months of government, Arévalo did not achieve the resignation of Porras and the leadership of the Public Ministry, who even tried to prevent his takeover. The president took office eight hours late, after midnight on January 14, due to the maneuvers of the outgoing congressmen supported by the actions of prosecutors.

The heads of state and international authorities who attended the event supported Arévalo and condemned the judicial persecution of the Guatemalan prosecutor’s office.