More and more social organizations are joining the call of the indigenous authorities of the 48 cantons of the Totonicapán department, with the same aim of demanding the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras.
Participants hold closed points on strategic roads, such as those leading to the borders of Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras.
Members of the Xinka Parliament from Santa María
Among others, the capital on Aguilar Batres road, zone 11, is affected; Petapa Avenue, in front of the entrance to the San Carlos University of Guatemala (Usac), Zone 12, apart from the demonstration in front of the MP headquarters.
The Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare noted that there is a risk of shortages in the facility’s services if the situation of blockades continues at the national level.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health called for the passage of ambulances and vehicles providing health services, especially those transporting food and medicine, as well as medical and nursing staff, to be allowed.
Industry chambers warned the sectors and products most affected by cost overruns, delays and unfulfilled contracts reaching the end consumer, he stressed.
Francisco Cárdenas, Executive Director of the Agricultural Input Suppliers Guild, highlighted that the impact of blockages throughout the food distribution chain is devastating; from the entrance and exit of the ports to the arrival of agricultural goods in the communities.
According to a provisional protection notified the day before by the Constitutional Court to the coordination committee of agricultural, commercial, industrial and financial associations, the road closures could also be lifted by force.
Totonicapán’s ancestral organization assured the press that if the state tries to evict them, it “has the logistics to counter anything that comes from the government.”
“We hope that this right will be respected and that the relevant authorities will at all times favor dialogue and non-violent measures to resolve this situation of blockades,” said President-elect Bernardo Arévalo.
The MP’s raids on the Supreme Electoral Court sparked a wave of condemnation in the country. They were considered illegal and demanded that the will of the people expressed in the elections must be respected.
The demonstrators in the streets continue to accuse the prosecutor of maneuvers and accuse Porras of trying to prevent the inauguration of Arévalo and his vice president Karin Herrera on January 14, 2024.
Lam/Znc