Arévalo denounces Giammattei's "silence"
Oct. 12, 2023
Guatemalan president-elect Bernardo Arévalo called on President Alejandro Giammattei to seek the resignation of attorney general Consuelo Porras in response to what he says are establishment efforts to undermine his electoral victory. (Soy 502)
"During this entire process you, Dr Giammattei, have been silent. The people have interpreted your silence as consent to the undermining of our democratic institutions. Your silence is an insult to the Guatemalan people," Arévalo said in a letter he read out loud last night in Plaza de la Constitución. (Reuters)
Arévalo’s supporters have been protesting and blocking roads for ten days, calling for the resignation of judicial officials who claim they are investigating potential electoral irregularities involving Arévalo’s Movimiento Semilla party. On Tuesday the head of the OAS said the investigation was "shameful" and "unprecedented" attack on Guatemala's democracy. Arévalo said he was "fully disposed" to attend as a witness government talks with protest leaders that are set to be mediated by the OAS.
Yesterday Guatemala’s Constitutional Court ordered the lifting of blocks, and permitted use of force if necessary reestablish freedom of movement. (Prensa Libre, Soy 502)
Guatemalan Indigenous leaders have played a central role in organizing the protests in defense of Guatemala’s democracy. “Guatemala has historically underrepresented its Indigenous population in politics: Academics estimate that Indigenous peoples have never held more than 10 percent of the seats in the national congress,” reports Al Jazeera.
“The Indigenous peoples — who are at least half of the population — are giving a lesson in civility and defense of a political and judicial system that has historically excluded them, but which they aspire to pacifically transform,” writes Edgar Gutierrez in El País.
In an interview with El Faro English, last week, Aleisar Arana, president of the Xinka Parliament, said attacks on the elections are drawing new bridges of coordination between Indigenous leaders —historically more politically isolated— around the country.
U.S. -Venezuela negotiations
The U.S. and Venezuela are close to reaching an understanding that would bring limited sanctions relief in exchange for steps to ensure fair elections, reports Bloomberg.
Negotiations could allow at least one additional foreign oil firm to take Venezuelan crude oil for debt repayment if President Nicolás Maduro resumes negotiations with the opposition in Mexico, according to Reuters.
Steps would include removing a ban on all opposition candidates to run for office — if those conditions are met the US would be open to lifting penalties on both Venezuela’s central bank and the state-owned development bank, Venezuela a path to reengage with financial institutions to recover at least $3 billion held in accounts in Europe.
Security crackdown near San Salvador
Security forces surrounded three communities on the outskirts of El Salvador’s capital, yesterday. The 4,000 strong security operation was allegedly aimed at rooting out gang members in Popotlán, Valle Verde and La Campanera — as the Bukele administration prepared to request another extension of emergency powers that have suspended civil liberties for the past year and a half.
The operatives follow a system: troops surround the targeted community and set up checkpoints at the entrances to communities, stopping and questioning drivers and searching their vehicles, while other forces search door to door for gang members.
(Associated Press, El Diario de Hoy
More El Salvador
More than 71,000 people have been detained in El Salvador since the state of exception was created in March 2022. Though the Bukele administration argues they are almost all affiliated with the country’s street gangs, civil society scrutiny “has highlighted thousands of cases of arbitrary detention. Among these victims of injustice, a very specific profile of those being persecuted under the state of emergency stands out: activists and defenders of human rights,” reports El País.
El Faro has obtained testimonies from people who have been in detention under the ongoing state of emergency: the stories confirm systematic torture, cases of beatings to death, intentional delay of medical assistance to sick inmates, an epidemic of scabies, among other human rights violations.
In one of El Faro’s testimonies, a young man, Alex, recounts how he was detained in a rural area after climbing a hill to check his Facebook account — accused by authorities of acting as a gang lookout. He regained his freedom after a year in detention.
In one case, a woman has denounced that her partner was detained in retaliation for her refusing the sexual advances of a military officer. (El Diario de Hoy)
A woman in El Salvador has denounced that her daughter has not been released from prison, despite a court order demanding her liberation. She has also denounced that her infant granddaughter died just days after being released, after spending six months in detention. (El Diario de Hoy)
Activists also believe that the government’s security persecution in some cases might have other motives, like seeking to reverse the ban on mining activity that has been in place in El Salvador since 2017, reports El País.
Regional Relations
Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for an end to “the insanity of war” as it emerged that more than a dozen Latin Americans were killed during Hamas’s assault on Israel. “Hamas must release the Israeli children who have been abducted from their families. Israel must stop the bombing so Palestinian children and their mothers can leave the Gaza Strip through the border with Egypt,” Lula said on social media. (Guardian)
So far Latin American government and media reports had confirmed the deaths of seven Argentinians, two Brazilians, two Peruvians, one Colombian and one Paraguayan. At least 15 Argentinians, three Peruvians, two Mexicans and one Brazilian remain missing. (Guardian)
Mexico
Mexican presidential frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum is an accomplished scientist, who has contributed to two landmark reports by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But her potential to become a climate leader is hampered by her mentor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a popular leader who prioritized oil over renewables, reports Bloomberg.
Mexicans have uncovered 5,696 clandestine graves in the country, an average of one per day since the war against organized crime intensified in 2007, reports Quinto Elemento Lab in Aristegui Noticias.
Argentina
Fires that surrounded populated parts of Argentina’s Cordoba province, creating apocalyptic scenes that triggered international concern on social media, were largely brought under control yesterday. (Washington Post)
Dominica
Dominica may have sold thousands more “golden passports” than its government has publicly disclosed, according to an investigation by the Guardian and 14 other international news organizations, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. (See yesterday’s briefs.)
Haiti
Former Haitian senator Joseph Joel John pleaded guilty this in Miami federal court to conspiring with others in Haiti and South Florida to kill President Jovenel Moïse, including attending a key meeting with Colombian commandos on July 6, 2021 — the day before Haiti’s leader was assassinated, reports the Miami Herald.
Uruguay
This week marks the 35-year anniversary of Uruguay’s Centros de Atención a la Infancia y Familia (Plan CAIF) — 501 centers in the country assist about 63,000 children under the age of three. (Montevideo Portal)
Regional
PBS’s Independent Lens features the story of legendary U.S. anthropologist Dr. Clyde Snow and Latin American forensic anthropology team, formed to investigate the forced disappearances carried out by Argentina’s last dictatorship. The group later worked in El Salvador, Bolivia and Mexico, “doggedly working behind the scenes to establish the facts for the families of the victims.”