2024-01-15 05:59:27
The Congress of Guatemala moments before the session resumed
Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in this Monday, after midnight, after hours of intense negotiations following the judicial attack against the deputies of the Semilla party.
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The Congress of Guatemala held this Sunday the session called for the presidential investiture of the social democrat Bernardo Arévalo after a delay of several hours due to discussions in the process of accreditation of the deputies of the new legislature.
The Guatemalan Congress, with a conservative majority, declared Arévalo’s deputies as independent, without a political party, reducing their power to maneuver before the social democrat is sworn in as president of the country.
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According to the organic law of the Guatemalan Congress, deputies declared “independent” cannot be part of the board of directors of the unicameral parliament or working commissions to support possible legislative initiatives that the future president may propose.
Hours later it was confirmed that, after intense negotiations, the deputies were restored to the parliamentary bench of the Semilla movement and they were awarded the presidency of Parliament.
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The session finally resumed with the report of a commission that qualified the credentials of the deputies who must be sworn in, according to the session broadcast on official television. After this process, the new legislature that will swear in Arévalo must take office.
Bernardo Arévalo, the elected president of Guatemala
“Deputies have the responsibility to respect the popular will expressed at the polls. An attempt is being made to violate democracy with illegalities, trifles and abuses of power. The Guatemalan people and the international community are watching,” Arévalo denounced the inexplicable delay.
Uncertainty took over the situation in Parliament, while hundreds of Arévalo supporters gathered around Congress to protest these delaying maneuvers.
Nine heads of state are invited to the event, including the King of Spain, Felipe VI, and the presidents of Chile, Gabriel Boric; Colombia, Gustavo Petro, and Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, among others, in addition to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. All of them demanded that Parliament hand over power to Arévalo.
The OAS and the EU ask the Guatemalan Congress to hand over power to Bernardo Arévalo
The elected president must be sworn in this Sunday for a period of four years, replacing the current president, Alejandro Giammattei.
“What they are doing here is delaying the installation of Congress in its tenth legislature because they do not want to give Arévalo possession,” Castillo, from the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party, and former first lady Sandra Torres, denounced to journalists. defeated by Arévalo de León in the 2023 elections. “The coup d’état is being brewed,” added the legislator.
The chaos in Parliament was deepened by a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala, the country’s highest court, which this Sunday ruled that the Semilla Movement party of the president-elect is suspended.
The decision leaves the Semilla Movement without the possibility of being part of the board of directors of Congress for the period 2024-2025.
Likewise, the ruling establishes that the 23 deputies of the Arévalo de León political group must be independent for the period 2024-2028, without a political party, despite the fact that in 2023, the same court had already ordered that all elected officials In the elections of the previous year they took office as they were elected.
The Constitutional Court of Guatemala
The suspension stems from a criminal order dated July 12, issued by Judge Fredy Orellana, accused by the United States Department of State of undermining justice and corruption. The criminal case in charge of Orellana is due to an alleged case of false signatures in the founding of the Semilla Movement in 2018.
Since Arévalo de León obtained second place in the June 2023 presidential elections, the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office) of Guatemala began a judicial persecution to prevent the 64-year-old academic from taking office, as did the deputies of the Movement Seed.
On September 1, Arévalo de León accused Attorney General Consuelo Porras and Criminal Judge Orellana of attempting a “coup d’état” to prevent him from taking office on January 14. Porras’ judicial actions have caused massive protests and road blockades by the population to demand his resignation since October and Arévalo de León has warned that starting tomorrow he will ask for his resignation.
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