LATIN AMERICA
Guatemalan president denounces coup attempt
Bernardo Arévalo, the country's president, denounces a new coup
In a statement made on October 26, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo denounced an attempted coup orchestrated by sectors of the judiciary. The accusation, made on national television, points directly at the Attorney General, Consuelo Porras, and Judge Fredy Orellana, described by Arévalo as “enemies of the Guatemalan people”. Minutes after the speech, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) hit back with criticism of the presidential interference.
The complaint comes amid the political instability that has plagued Guatemala for decades. Arévalo’s own election in 2023 was marked by obstructions, protests and legal maneuvers against various candidates.
In June 2023, Bernardo Arévalo, son of former president Juan José Arévalo, an icon of the “1944 Revolution”, emerged as the winner of the general elections. Representing the Semilla Movement, a party created in response to demonstrations in 2015, Arévalo won 58% of the votes in the second round, defeating former first lady Sandra Torres. Her campaign focused on fighting corruption.
Shortly after her victory, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, under the command of Consuelo Porras, suspended the Semilla party for alleged registration irregularities, a maneuver to annul the election results. In August, Arévalo revealed that he was the target of an assassination plot, which led the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to demand urgent protection measures. Protests broke out in October, with roadblocks demanding an end to the “electoral persecution” and a guaranteed transition of power.
In December, Judge Fredy Orellana called for the total annulment of the election, alleging flaws in the processing of votes by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). Arévalo fought back, declaring that the “coup” had been “blocked” thanks to popular pressure, and promised to govern “without fear”. The Constitutional Court (CC), in an important decision, confirmed the results and paved the way for the inauguration, but not without delays: the ceremony, scheduled for January 14, 2024, only took place in the early hours of the 15th, after more than 10 hours of obstruction in Congress, in a kind of coup in progress.
On his 100th day in April 2024, Arévalo already admitted that he was “sleeping with the enemy”: surrounded by hostile institutions such as the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary, he created an anti-corruption commission and denounced a former minister for irregularities in public procurement.
Orellana’s recent request to declare Semilla’s positions vacant, including the presidency, has once again brought the crisis in the Central American country to a head. Arévalo, alongside Vice President Karin Herrera and party deputies, called on the nation and the imperialist Organization of American States (OAS) to activate the Inter-American Democratic Charter, a collective defense mechanism against democratic breakdowns. “This is a clear attempt at a coup,” said the president, calling for Orellana’s immediate removal from office by the Supreme Court of Justice.
The OAS reiterated its respect for the 2023 results, emphasizing: “respect the will of the Guatemalan people in the 2023 general elections, which were held with full legitimacy.” The Guatemalan Bar Association (OAG) described Orellana’s action as a “violation of constitutional supremacy”, while the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) joined the “call against coup attempts”. Indians from Semilla declared Porras and Orellana “enemies of the nation” and demanded that they be brought to justice.
