Statement by Guatemalan President Elect Arevalo

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September 5, 2023


** “We are witnessing an ongoing Coup d'Etat”
Statement by Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arevalo
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“There are still four months before the inauguration. Four months during which these political mafias will attempt to carry out the ongoing coup d'état.”

Communiqué
Coup d'état in progress
Guatemala, September 1, 2023

Guatemalan citizens.

This is Bernardo Arévalo, President-elect of the Republic of Guatemala.

You have trusted me and Karin Herrera to lead the country from the Executive Branch for the next four years. The results of the second round election, made official by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, accepted and celebrated with joy by the people of Guatemala, and recognized by the main social actors and the international community, have confirmed this.

And yet, there is a group of corrupt politicians and officials who refuse to accept this result. While on one hand the protocol formalities of the transition process have been put in place, on the other hand a plan has been put in place to break the constitutional order and violate democracy.

These actions constitute a coup d'état promoted by the institutions that should guarantee justice in our country, a coup d’etat headed by the Attorney General Consuelo Porras, the Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, the Seventh Judge of criminal instance Fredy Orellana, as well as the Board of Directors of the Congress of the Republic and other corrupt and antidemocratic actors.

We are witnessing an ongoing Coup d'Etat, in which the system of justice is being used to violate justice itself, mocking the popular will expressed liberally at the ballot box on August 20.

It is being carried out step by step, through spurious, illegitimate and illegal actions in different instances. The objective is to prevent the inauguration of the elected authorities, including the president, the vice-president and our deputies to the Congress of the Republic, trying to weaken and deny the resources, authority and legitimacy that the people of Guatemala have constitutionally conferred upon us.

As President-elect of the Republic, I call on the people of Guatemala, civil society, businessmen, workers and the popular movement, churches and indigenous authorities, legitimate political forces and honest officials, students and academia, elected authorities, and all Guatemalans who reject corruption and authoritarianism, to join forces in defense of democracy and unrestricted respect for the will of the people.

I call on us to unite to defeat the coup forces that intend to keep us submerged in corruption, impunity and poverty.

To defend the most sacred political right and the most effective weapon of free people: the vote.

To defend our opportunity for a new spring [una nueva primavera] in the face of the voracity of the corrupt.

The rescue of the institutions of democracy requires that we know how to act united as one people. The union of the entire nation in defense of our democracy and the principles of the republic will establish the political foundations that will allow us to face the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that the development of our country demands, united and in harmony.

We recall that the resistance of the people is legitimate for the protection and defense of the rights and guarantees enshrined in our Constitution, such as the right to peaceful demonstration and the free expression of thought that thousands of Guatemalans have been exercising in the streets, plazas and media of the country.

But we alert the people of Guatemala that there are still four months before the inauguration. Four months during which these political mafias will attempt to carry out the ongoing coup d'état. Four months that will test the determination of the people of Guatemala to protect their democracy.

As legally and legitimately elected authorities, we are already taking the necessary legal and political actions to defend the decision of the people and to guarantee respect for the will of the people and the alternation of power. We will continue to do so with determination and conviction as long as attempts to circumvent the sovereign will of the people continue.

Therefore, we call on all individuals and organizations committed to democracy to join us in these actions throughout these four months of transition, and thus defend not only the vote cast on August 20, but the right of this and future generations of Guatemalans to live in a free and democratic society.

Four and months, ten days until January 14, 2024 transfer of power

TRUTHOUT article
Guatemalans Voted to End 69 Years of Corrupt Rule. Will US, Canada Accept It?
By Grahame Russell, Rights Action, August 21, 2023, Guatemala City
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More information
* Rights Action’s “Guatemala Election Watch” alerts (www.rightsaction.org/emails)
* Twitter feeds of Festivales Solidarios (@festivalesgt) & Prensa Comunitaria (@PrensaCommunitar)
* Prensa Comunitaria’s daily news ([link removed])

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To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights, justice and democracy defense struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
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