Guatemala: The Organisation of American States (OAS) has accused prosecutors in Guatemala of preventing President-Elect Mr. Bernardo Arevalo from taking power.
Mr. Eladio Loizaga, leader of the OAS’s election observation mission, stressed that the August 20 presidential election had been fair and accurate. The OAS leader further denounced subsequent actions taken against the election’s victor Mr. Arevalo and his political party, the Movimiento Semilla, or Seed Movement.
“Given the documented conditions, it is impossible that the Electoral Observation Mission would arrive at any other conclusion than that, in this very specific case, the mechanisms and tools of Guatemalan justice are being used politically,” Mr. Loizaga said at a special meeting of the OAS’s permanent council. The OAS leader noted that the prosecutors’ efforts have been “selective, disproportionate, and clearly tailored to the political moment.”
The OAS issued one of its most strongly worded criticism to date, rejecting the Seed Movement’s suspension. “The suspension appears to seek to prevent the president-elect, the vice president-elect, and other elected officials from taking office,” the organisation wrote in a press release.
The prosecutors have repeatedly sought to suspend the Seed Movement’s legal status over allegations that the membership signatures used to form the party years ago were fraudulent. The Seed Movement was organised in 2017 and legally recognised in 2018.
The latest suspension came just hours before the Supreme Electoral Tribunal certified Mr. Arevalo’s victory. The move prevents members of the Seed Movement from taking key government posts, including on congressional commissions.
Guatemala’s Congress, controlled by the current ruling party, responded to the party’s suspension by designating all Seed Movement representatives as independents. Those representatives included Mr. Arevalo himself, as he currently serves as a congressman.
“We are seeing a coup d’etat in motion in which the justice apparatus is used to violate justice,” Mr. Arevalo said at a press conference to blast the government’s actions. “We alert the Guatemalan people that there are still four months, during which these political mafias will try to consummate the coup d’etat. The people’s resistance is legitimate,” the Seed Movement leader added.
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