2023-07-14 01:38:27
Curruchiche’s move sparked confusion and outrage in the country’s capital, Guatemala City, where hundreds of people gathered to protest Wednesday shortly after the announcement. The prosecutor made the decision as Guatemalan electoral authorities were preparing to officially dismiss attempts to postpone the runoff and allow voting to go ahead as planned. More protests are expected in the coming days.
When asked about the prosecutor’s measures against the Arévalo party, the president magistrate of the electoral authority, Irma Elizabeth Palencia, said that “it is something that worries us.”
Brian Nichols, the US State Department’s top official for the Western Hemisphere, said on Twitter that the US government was “deeply concerned” by what it described as Curruchiche’s “threats to electoral democracy in Guatemala”.
“Institutions must respect the will of the voters,” added Nichols.
Arévalo’s party, called Movimiento Semilla, had filed an amparo around midnight with Guatemala’s highest constitutional court to appeal the ruling. On Thursday afternoon, the court granted the appeal, thus protecting Semilla’s legal status and allowing the party to run in the August runoff.
Curruchiche, who heads the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, said the case against Semilla involved allegations that it had used more than 5,000 fraudulent signatures to qualify as a political party.
After his office investigated the case, a criminal judge ordered the suspension of the party’s registration, which in effect would have made it impossible for him and Arévalo to participate in the second round.
The fear, however, remains latent. On Thursday morning, Curruchiche’s office searched and seized evidence in the Citizens’ Registry, which contained documents submitted by Semilla.
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