Politics

Guatemala’s attorney general to lift immunity of elected president and vice president

Guatemala City, Nov 16 (EFE).- The Attorney General’s Office of Guatemala confirmed Thursday that it will seek the withdrawal of the immunity of the president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo, and his vice president, Karin Herrera, for an alleged case of damage to the assets of the State University.

In a press conference, the Public Prosecutor’s Office accused Arévalo and Herrera of participating in the violent takeover of the university campus in 2022, in order to reject the elections held at the university that year.

Prosecutor Saúl Sánchez, who is in charge of the investigation, assured that the president-elect could have committed the crimes of aggravated usurpation, theft of cultural property and illegal association.

During the presentation of the case, Prosecutor Sánchez presented as alleged evidence against Arévalo screenshots of videos of the president-elect in university facilities attending academic events after the campus had been liberated.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office will also seek to revoke the immunity of the Vice President-elect, Karin Herrera, the Seed Movement deputies Samuel Pérez and Román Castellanos, as well as the elected deputy Raúl Barrera, among others.

The indictment states that the accused used the takeover of the university as a “platform for their political candidacies.”

In the same case, the former candidate for deputy of the Seed Movement, Marcela Blanco, was detained and an arrest warrant was issued for 25 other people, including former officials, politicians, students and university professors.

The Public Ministry, under the leadership of Attorney General Consuelo Porras, has been heavily criticized in Guatemala and abroad in recent months for attempting to interfere in the results of the elections and for attempting to cancel the party of the president-elect.

Since Sept. 1, Arévalo has publicly denounced Porras for leading an attempted coup against him to prevent him from assuming the presidency on Jan. 14.

Arévalo traveled to the United States last week for the second time in two months, where he said his assumption of the presidency in January was “inevitable” despite attempts by the Attorney General’s Office to discredit his electoral victory.

The president-elect also warned that the coup plotters against him would not give up easily. EFE

dte-jcm/mcd/ics

Related Articles

Back to top button