By Maya Menchú | @mayamenchu
The situation that democracy suffers in Guatemala today is unprecedented and without a doubt we must not lose sight of it. The wait for the inauguration of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo on January 14, 2024, has been full of stumbles and trips.
The most recent by the Public Ministry, who seeks to link the process and therefore remove the immunity of the next president of Guatemala, by accusing him of being inside the facilities of the San Carlos University of Guatemala (USAC) in August 2022, giving a press conference. In those days, thousands of university students expressed their dissatisfaction with the election of the new rector of the Maximum House of Studies. In addition to accusing him for expressing his opinion via Twitter (now X) about the case.
Because he expressed his opinions freely via tweets. The MP requests that his right to pre-trial be withdrawn to initiate an investigation against him. They also allege that there were six other figures in national politics who took advantage of this social disagreement for partisan purposes and therefore deserve to be tried.
For his part, Arévalo described the actions against him and against members of Semilla as spurious and unacceptable. The tweets in question were six in a period of four months. This fact puts on the table freedom of expression and the right that as citizens we have to express ourselves about disagreements on issues and situations of national interest.
In the example of Guatemala we see how a basic freedom within democracy, which is freedom of expression, can be used against us. An issue that in the case of Mexico has become relevant, especially censorship and legislation on freedom of expression on social networks. Since without a doubt they are powerful public scenarios.
These measures requested by the MP are evidently another attempt to hinder Arévalo’s inauguration. As the Guatemalan internationalist Luis Padilla mentioned, this is a psychological war more than a “legal war” against the elected president. The most serious thing is that it is being carried out by the outgoing president, some deputies, magistrates, judges and the MP himself. Those who act with total impunity and corruption in search of not allowing the takeover, in other words, coup d’état.
Due to the seriousness of these events, there is the possibility that Guatemala will be expelled from the OAS as a member, since article 17 considers this measure if a democratic institutional political process is at risk. If this were to happen, it would greatly affect international cooperation, diplomatic relations with other states and especially with the United States of America. Which would be a setback as a country and the consequences would be multiple.
Our neighboring country, Guatemala, is currently experiencing a political and democratic crisis that needs to be observed and followed up. January 14, 2024 seems to be close, however, what the Guatemalan country has had to suffer at the whim of a few dissatisfied with the electoral results has been a storm of unprecedented attacks and dismissals against an elected president, his party and cabinet.