By Luis de Jesus
The elected president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León, asked this Sunday the citizens of his country to protest against what he denounced as a “coup d’état”, allegedly carried out by the Public Ministry, headed by lawyer María Consuelo Porras.
“At this time, the Public Ministry headed by Consuelo Porras is carrying out a coup d’état through illegal and spurious actions,” the politician warned in a video broadcast on platform .
Arévalo said that Guatemalans have the duty to express their rejection of this “attack against the rule of law” and this attempt to “break the constitutional order.”
He expressed that all the calls that have been made to peacefully protest against the actions that have been carried out in recent weeks must be attended to.
“Aware that silence is not an option. Our unity is our strength and we must protect it. “We are moved by a common feeling of indignation and urgency in the face of the authoritarian and petty threat and the need to reject it as a people,” she noted.
“We know that the corrupt want to provoke violence to have the excuse of repressing the popular expression of rejection. “Let us not allow ourselves to be provoked by the violent and let us use our rights peacefully,” added the elected president.
Let’s make our voices heard!
Let us show the coup plotters that we are united against them, and that we will know how to peacefully defend that common heritage that is our democracy. #NoMoreSilence. pic.twitter.com/5YYkB4xV7j
— Bernardo Arévalo de León (@BArevalodeLeon) October 2, 2023
Bernardo Arévalo de León returned to Guatemala this Sunday after the Prosecutor’s Office’s “assault” on the headquarters of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, where hundreds of electoral records from the June and August votes were seized on Saturday, during a raid that began on Friday.
Arévalo left his country on September 29 to carry out a work tour of Mexico and the United States, but he could not arrive at the latter destination because “he had to alter the trip” due to the situation that has arisen.
He denounced that it is intended to prevent his inauguration on January 14.
The Guatemalan Public Ministry has not revealed the reason why the raid was carried out, under the allegation that it is “under judicial reserve”, a classification that makes it impossible to access information related to the process, the EFE agency noted.
Rafael Curruchiche, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said that the objective is to “save democracy.”
I am entering Guatemala again.
In the face of the MP’s assault, we must all unite, active and strong in the defense of each of the votes, of democracy, of the constitution.
I ask you to keep an eye on the steps to follow from now on. #NoMoreSilence. pic.twitter.com/hfMpTkK6ep
— Bernardo Arévalo de León (@BArevalodeLeon) October 1, 2023
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