Guatemala City. Guatemala
Reuters
Thousands of Guatemalans took to the streets in protest on Thursday, lighting fires and blocking roads across the Central American country, to demand the resignation of President Alejandro Giammattei after the firing of a well-known anti-corruption prosecutor.
The protests have gained momentum since Guatemala’s Attorney General Maria Porras last week removed anti-graft fighter Juan Francisco Sandoval as head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), a move that drew condemnation from Washington.
Mayan Indigenous people block a road as they take part in a protest demanding the resignation of Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Attorney General Maria Porras, in San Cristobal Totonicapan, Guatemala, on 29th July. PICTURE: Reuters/Luis Echeverria
Sandoval, who left Guatemala last weekend, said he was fired after the attorney general prevented him from trying to investigate corruption cases with links to Giammattei. The President has denied being involved in corruption.
In an interview with a local television channel last weekend, Porras said she always acted with transparency. “[Sandoval] exercised selective justice since he tried to prosecute people of opposite ideology,” she said.
In Guatemala City, a crowd of thousands of people marched from the presidential palace to the attorney general’s office holding signs that said “Giammattei, Resign”.
Demonstrators set fire to tyres and threw paint over police deployed to protect government buildings.
“Today we are in front of the presidential palace but a president does not live here: a traitor does,” said Samuel Pérez, an opposition lawmaker who joined protesters.
The demonstrations in the capital were part of a national strike called by indigenous leaders, social groups and student organizations to demand the resignations of Giammattei and Porras.
Across the impoverished nation of 17 million people, protesters blocked traffic at major intersections and marched with banners calling for the departure of the President, elected two years ago.
“We are here to tell the president that we do not recognize him as president because he no longer represents the interests of our country,” said Martín Toc, an Indigenous leader from Totonicapán, in western Guatemala.
US suspends cooperation
The United States, which strongly condemned Sandoval’s dismissal, said on Tuesday it was pausing some cooperation with Guatemala’s attorney general, as it tries to apply pressure on Central American governments to end impunity.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has made the fight against corruption a central plank of its strategy towards the region as it aims to address the root causes of illegal migration to the United States, which has increased this year.
In recent months, Washington has revoked the US visas of two senior judges in Guatemala on graft suspicions and criticised lawmakers’ refusal to swear in a corruption-fighting judge.
In a statement shared on Twitter, Giammettei said on Thursday that the US decision to suspend support to the attorney general was “counterproductive” in the fight against organised crime and corruption.
US Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle Ricardo Zuniga, when asked about Giammattei’s comments, told reporters in Washington that Sandoval’s dismissal had raised serious questions Guatemala’s commitment to fighting graft.
“We made very clear in our response that we had lost confidence in the Attorney General,” he said.
While police guarding government buildings faced off with protesters in the capital, no incidents of violence were reported.
Thursday’s demonstrations came after hundreds of Guatemalans protested outside the presidential palace on Saturday after Sandoval’s firing.
Giammattei’s government also faced protests last November when a group of demonstrators set fire to the Congress building over cuts to education and health in the 2021 budget. Days later, Congress retracted the budget.
– Additional reporting by DAPHNE PSALEDAKIS in Washington.
