A demonstration against Consuela Porras on July 14 in Guatemala City. Moises Castillo (AP)
“Consuelo coup, you are the terrorist!” chanted a group of demonstrators, mostly young people, in front of the State Ministry headquarters on the afternoon of July 13, as a wave of protests in defense of the vote began in Guatemala. and democracy, in the face of the threat posed by the actions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office led by Consuelo Porras to dissolve the Semilla movement, the party that, against all odds and with the message of rejection of corruption, won the elections on August 20.
Almost two months after the first citizen demonstration alleging the illegality of an order repealing Semilla, the reasons for calling for Consuelo Porras’ resignation escalated, to the point that President-elect Bernardo Arévalo identified her as one of the executors of the alleged coup attempt , which he believes is aimed at preventing his inauguration. The protests continued intermittently and with different expressions. There were sit-ins, flower walks, recreational activities and a digital initiative that collected more than 100,000 signatures to demand the resignation of the head of the State Department.
The same event brought together a crowd of citizens last Saturday who filled the Plaza de la Constitución. Two days later, several communities in the province mobilized to the nearest State Ministry headquarters to demand the resignation of Porras and other officials from the judiciary who they said were “undermining democracy.” Symbolic acts have also been observed in Mayan communities, such as public flogging ceremonies inflicted on the portraits of officials named by the anti-democratic outpost.
Citizens protest in the central square of Guatemala City on Saturday, September 2.ESTEBAN BIBA (EFE)
In the last few hours, a new initiative emerged calling for the resignation of the head of the State Ministry through social networks under the slogan “Goodbye, Consuelo”. During Consuelo Porras’ tenure as head of the State Ministry, dozens of criminal cases were initiated against former anti-corruption justice employees and against critical voices.
The attorney general, appointed by President Alejandro Giammattei for a second term until 2026, has been added to the list of corrupt and undemocratic actors drawn up by the United States and is accused of acting in such a way that the so-called “pact of the corrupt” continues in Guatemala. , an informal alliance of politicians, bureaucratic elites and businessmen who protect each other to retain power.
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Social researcher Marcelo Colussi sees these demonstrations as a continuation of the rejection of the establishment expressed in the recent elections. And it shows that they are happening in a country that is used to silencing critical voices. “We are covered by formal education, the media, the churches, the ideological and cultural tools created to keep things as they are,” he analyzes.
In view of this, Colussi believes that the population has functioned differently than was expected before the elections, which, according to the polls, would be won by a politician linked to these traditional powers. “People reacted positively and said no to Efraín Ríos Montt’s daughter Zury Ríos; “He said no to the official candidate Manuel Conde,” he says. For him, with a young team and a message of intolerance towards corruption, Semilla’s victory was “a breath of fresh air” for the Guatemalan landscape. “The people who are not stupid voted against the continued existence of the mafia,” he emphasizes.
The winner of these elections, Bernardo Arévalo, condemned an attempted “coup” to prevent his inauguration through legal action to dissolve his party, and assured that the “corrupt elites” would be reluctant to step down from power. The criminal operation against Semilla began just hours before the Supreme Electoral Court confirmed Arévalo as a candidate for the second round against former first lady Sandra Torres. Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche managed to persuade a criminal judge to order the suspension of the Semilla Movement’s legal status due to alleged anomalies in the party’s constitution, which was legally approved in 2017. The evidence Curruchiche has to support his criminal accusation is being kept under reserve, including to party leaders who, according to the complaint, were denied access to files in more than 30 cases.
Posters against Consuelo Porras at the demonstration last Saturday in front of the National Palace (Guatemala City).ESTEBAN BIBA (EFE)
Such actions sparked a reaction on the streets. With every legal attempt to impede Semilla’s advance, citizens demonstrated to protect their voice. “The people who have understood that the only resource available to them in this moment is expression and peaceful resistance,” said activist Brenda Hernandez, a 59-year-old woman who is a frequent participant in demonstrations in the city can be seen at a recent protest. Constitution Square in Guatemala City.
For them, the protest represents a chance to defend the hope of a population that has elected a ruler who promises to change the “grotesque reality” of their country. “Guatemala is a people that has suffered more than 35 years of war with too great losses and currently does not want to rely on transformation through violent expressions; “But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a societal outbreak if they are sufficiently cornered,” he emphasizes.
For her part, Maya Kaqchikel anthropologist Aura Cumes says: “Guatemalans do not have many mechanisms to show dissatisfaction and we are in daily survival, so the forms of demonstration become visible when one is full, when there are extremes and I.” It seems like that’s what we’re experiencing right now.”
The Plaza awakens
The protests demanding respect for the voice of Guatemalans and the resignation of Consuelo Porras mean the reactivation of the Plaza de la Constitución in the capital, which has been dormant since November 2020 after an episode of police repression. This square is an emblematic place for citizens’ demands, because in 2015, the outcries of fed-up citizens led to the overthrow of former President Otto Pérez Molina, who was eventually imprisoned for corruption.
A demonstrator of the nationwide strike against Porras and Giammatei in August 2021. Luis Vargas (Getty Images)
The protests today are still dominated by young people who are also using digital initiatives to create pressure to persuade Porras to resign. Estuardo Contreras is one of the initiators of the initiative to collect signatures for his resignation. He says he did so because he was “fed up with the authoritarianism he perceives in the way the State Department takes legal action against people who feel uncomfortable and as an exercise of power for the sake of one to enforce certain group.”
Contreras is 28 years old and sees himself as a digital activist. After the anti-corruption protests of 2015, he also discovered that he had the “mastery of the word” to create content on various platforms such as TikTok to counter misinformation and dominant narratives. These networks showed him that there are many more Guatemalans who hope for a different future. “We are committed to the same cause together and it is exciting to know that there are thousands of us,” he emphasizes.
“There are many in the population who are fed up and that makes them a little less afraid to say things,” says the anthropologist Cumes, pointing out that “the protest does not happen on its own, because it will “We also took legal action” against the censorship and in defense of the demonstrations. On August 25, Consuelo Porras herself filed an appeal seeking public forces to silence her critics, but the Constitutional Court rejected her request.
“The weight of the demonstrations, of people saying things on the streets or on social networks, is the most obvious message for those who do not want to understand it in other ways (e.g. through legal action), and it is encouraging to do so “We see that the demonstrations are taking place in all areas and they are demanding that democracy be defended,” explains Cumes. The Mayan anthropologist refers to the sit-ins that took place this Monday, September 3, in the offices of the municipal prosecutor, a star project of prosecutor Consuelo Porras. For them, it is a defense that empowers people against traditional powers and gives them dignity.
Young people demonstrate in Guatemala City in November 2020. LUIS ECHEVERRIA (Portal)
Aurelio Botón is a community leader from the village of Santa María Tzejá in Playa Grande, Quiché, who took part in these protests to demand Porras’ resignation. “They are trying to stop Bernardo Arévalo from taking office. “This is an attack on democracy and freedom, on our right to choose our president,” he said confidently in a telephone interview.
The farmer says that at 6 a.m. Monday they and other neighbors drove in pickup trucks and buses from the city, nearly 400 kilometers from Guatemala’s capital, to the nearest prosecutor’s office. To take part in the protest, they had to leave their crops behind and pay for transportation, which meant half a day’s work and about $5. Some transport companies joined the campaign and did not charge them the fare.
But for Botón, it’s a cost that’s worth it. The farmer demands “honesty” from Porras. “The President appointed her as prosecutor to fight for justice in our country, so that the law is correctly applied, but in recent months they have started doing things wrong instead of defending justice.” “When people If you are no longer satisfied with your job, you should quit,” he explains. In the department where the municipality of Botón is located, Sandra Torres won the second round against Bernardo Arévalo. And many protesters insist that the demand is not about a political party but about the defense of democracy.
The demonstrations have so far been peaceful and without road blockages, although indigenous resistance from several territories, such as the 48 cantons of Totonicapán and the ancestral authorities of Sololá, gave Porras an ultimatum to resign and threatened to block the roads, which they did This has happened in the past, bringing trade and transportation to a standstill for up to a full day.
Consuelo Porras on September 5 after a meeting with Secretary of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro. Moises Castillo (AP)
Conservative commentators such as Roberto Ardón, son of a former director of the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (Cacif), belittle the legitimacy of the protest. “I perceive that it is something armed, something coordinated by opinion leaders and journalists who are in Guatemala or in exile, who will not stop, who are ready that there will be demonstrations and social conflicts as long as the prosecutor resigns,” he said on the show. Radio The Dissidents.
But the anthropologist Cumes has a different opinion. For them, dissatisfaction with “the most obvious forms of corruption and the exploitation of the system of three branches of government” is enormous. “The public saw their behavior [de los funcionarios] And he doesn’t share it because it affects the hospitals and the streets every day, it all has to do with the dissatisfaction with the looting and the arrogance that is experienced,” he says.
In the meantime, demands have been added to the slogans of the protest: In addition to the corruption fatigue of 2015, there was the discussion about democracy and the direct reference to those who citizens believe do not promote it like Porras. Social researcher Marcelo Colussi believes that the next level of citizen consultation should be aimed at accumulating wealth and questioning the real powers, those who shape public policy to keep things as they are, and the faces behind which we don’t see them. the pact of corruption. With “Goodbye, Consuelo”, the band in Guatemala has initially translated a clear demand into a label on social networks!
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