Guatemala Election Watch #13

Bernardo Arevalo, presidential candidate for the Semilla Party, speaks:

We Need a Second Spring

Today more than ever we need to fight for a Second Spring, one that offers us more than what the Revolution of 1944 left us. We know we can do it, we know we are capable of it.

Movimiento Semilla, Octubre 20, 2022

English Transcript

The October revolution is not a nostalgic episode in our history.

The October revolution must be a mirror of what is possible.

The revolutionary junta allowed, for the first time, the holding of free elections in our history. And the democratic governments of Juan Jose Arevalo and Jacobo Arbenz then built the foundations of a modern state that marked our country's entry into modernity.

Such as the enactment of the labor code, and the dignification of workers throughout the country. The commitment to education as a strategy for national development. The creation for the first time of a Ministry of Health to serve the population and the foundation of the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security as a tool for social welfare.

Recent events such as the kidnapping of the University of San Carlos by political criminal networks, the violation of the autonomy of sports and the expulsion of our country from the International Olympic Committee, the continuing assault on the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security to turn it into a den of corrupt people and to ransack its assets, the unstoppable deterioration of all social and economic indicators of the country, show that we have not only been stagnant, but that we are in regression as a country.

We need a Second Spring.

A spring that guarantees accessible quality education throughout the country, to bring formal and dignified work for all, with an IGSS that universalizes services and covers the social security needs of the entire population.

To foster conditions that increase the productivity of workers and entrepreneurs in the rural and urban areas.

To build institutions committed to the fight against corruption and impunity and to the rule of law and democracy. 

We can do it. 

We know it because as a nation we have already done it.

In 1944 we reinvented ourselves as a nation and as a people. 

Let us give spring back to Guatemala and long live the revolution of 1944.

US and Canadian responsibility!

The US and Canadian governments, our companies and investors, have a significant measure of responsibility for what is occurring in Guatemala, given the past 69 years of full economic, political and military relations with repressive, ‘open for global business’, Covenant of the Corrupt regimes, always referred to as “democratic allies”.

Electoral coup d’etat in Guatemala
A democracy and rule of law challenge for United States and Canada
By Grahame Russell, July 24, 2023
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/electoral-coup-detat-in-guatemala

Rights Action calls for Americans and Canadians to share this information widely (including media outlets), and to contact your Senators, Members of Congress and Parliamentarian. Urge them to make public statements and bring all pressures to bear on the Guatemalan authorities to ensure that the electoral process proceeds transparently and peacefully to the August 20 run-off vote, and that the Semilla Party is allowed to participate fully with no further attacks of any kind.

• Senate: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact
• House: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
• Parliament: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members

More information

• Follow daily twitter feeds of Festivales Solidarios (@festivalesgt) & Prensa Comunitaria (@PrensaCommunitar)
• Read Prensa Comunitaria’s daily news (https://prensacomunitaria.org/)

Rights Action’s “Guatemala Election Watch”

Guatemala Election Watch #1 – July 2, 2023
Real democracy in Guatemala? Semilla Party now favored to win Presidential election on August 20
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/real-democracy-in-guatemala-1

Guatemala Election Watch #2 – July 3, 2023
Is the electoral fraud fix in, in Guatemala? ‘Covenant of the Corrupt’ regime weaponizing legal system to attack Semilla Party electoral results
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/is-the-electoral-fraud-fix-in-in-guatemala

Guatemala Election Watch #3 – July 10, 2023
Electoral re-count re-confirms Semilla Movement Party success in first round of Presidential Election
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/electoral-re-count-re-confirms-semilla-movement-party-success

Guatemala Election Watch #4 – July 13, 2023
Electoral coup d'état attempted in Guatemala. Semilla Party "suspended" from elections
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/coup-being-attempted-in-guatemala-semilla-party-suspended-from-elections

Guatemala Election Watch #5 – July 14, 2023
Corrupted “suspension” order defeated, provisionally!
Risk increases that corrupted criminal charges will be filed against Semilla Party members
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/corrupted-suspension-order-defeated-provisionally

Guatemala Election Watch #6 – July 18, 2023
Semilla Party relaunches run-off campaign
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/semilla-party-relaunches-run-off-campaign

Guatemala Election Watch #7 – July 19, 2023
Corrupted Public Prosecutor's Office orders arrest of Semilla Party members 
Attacks intensify against elections and favored Semilla Party
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/guatemalan-regime-orders-arrest-of-semilla-party-members

Guatemala Election Watch #8 – July 21, 2023
Corrupted special prosecutor’s office attempts illegal arrest of Supreme Electoral Tribunal official for not suspending Semilla Party, as illegally ordered by a corrupt judge
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/covenantofthecorrupt-attempts-arrest-of-supreme-electoral-tribunal-official

Guatemala Election Watch #9 – July 24, 2023
Electoral coup d’etat in Guatemala: A democracy and rule of law challenge for United States and Canada
By Grahame Russell, July 24, 2023
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/electoral-coup-detat-in-guatemala

Guatemala Election Watch #10 – July 25, 2023
Will US do in Guatemala what US has never done?
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/will-us-do-in-guatemala-what-us-has-never-done

Guatemala Election Watch #12 – July 31, 2023
Who is Arevalo? From the father (1944) to the son (2023)
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/who-is-arevalo-from-the-father-to-the-son

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