President Bernardo Arévalo held a meeting with deputies and members of the Board of Directors of the Legislative Body in search of support for a budget expansion. There, according to Allan Rodríguez, head of the Vamos opposition bloc, the president would have tried to buy the votes of the deputies in exchange for economic benefits.
“We are aware that many deputies are receiving offers; The first was that of governors, and they have not fulfilled them. For the approval of the budget expansion they are offering Q10 million, that is the information that the deputies have given us, with the condition that they go over to their side,” Rodríguez publicly denounced.
The Ministry of Finance announced several weeks ago the intention to present a budget expansion to Congress, but the initiative has not reached the Congress of the Republic.
The budget expansion that the Finance portfolio announced at the time was for Q13 billion, but Rodríguez assures that the expansion will be greater, along with a series of reductions to the Judicial Branch.
“We regret that what the president requested was support for an expansion of Q16 billion, to take Q1 billion from the justice sector, we regret that the intention is to harm the justice sector,” added the head of Vamos.
According to Rodríguez, two of his deputies, José Carlos Solano and Christian Joél Martínez Juárez, participated in the meeting with the Executive, for which he announced that they will be expelled from the political party.
“I hope that all responsible deputies realize what the objective is, which is not to govern in favor of Guatemalans, the agenda is one of revenge, an agenda that is being managed with the liver and not with reason,” Rodríguez concluded.
Other requests
The meeting between President Bernardo Arévalo and the deputies took place at the Presidential House last Wednesday, April 17, but some sources who preferred not to be cited explained that there was another series of requests from the Executive to the deputies.
In the first instance they ruled out that there was any type of direct economic offer and the central point was a detailed presentation on how the budget expansion requested by the Arévalo presidency would be used, where a part would be destined for the payment of debt left by the administration of Alejandro Giammattei. Furthermore, according to the sources consulted, the Executive requested that state ministers stop being summoned to the Congress of the Republic. Dynamics that are recurring in the Legislative Body.
Another request would be to ask that the immunity of the judges of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) not be withdrawn once more, where in a new pretrial the UNE questions the electoral results of the second round that brought Bernardo Arévalo to the presidency.
The meeting was attended by the majority of legislative blocks, including deputies from Vamos and the National Unity of Hope (UNE).
Rejects accusations
Through his social networks, President Arévalo responded to the accusations of Deputy Rodríguez and denied the accusations of purchasing deputies for the budget expansion.
“I categorically deny the statements of Deputy Allan Rodríguez. They are completely false and irresponsible. Our Government will not tolerate this behavior. We are already evaluating the legal actions to be taken,” said the president through the X social network.
Arévalo also stressed that a country agenda is being sought and that there is a policy dedicated to disinformation. “The People of Guatemala deserve a legislative agenda for the benefit of the population, and to leave behind the politics of slander, lies and misinformation,” he adds.
For his part, the official Samuel Pérez confirmed the meeting, although he denied that any type of financial offer was made.
“We have had meetings with almost all blocks of Congress, especially to be able to explain the national government policy. The expansion has not yet come out of Finance, until then we will see how much the readjustment proposal remains,” he indicated.
Q13 billion proposal
The Minister of Finance, Jonathan Menkos, also confirmed the meeting and joined in denying the opposition deputy’s statements. He noted that it was a formal and technical meeting.
“I don’t know if he has credit in society to talk regarding these issues. Yes, there was a meeting where the president and the heads of the different groups participated, with the Board of Directors, and we talked regarding the main contents of the expansion,” said the minister.
In a few weeks they hope to have the final document to seek the budget expansion, which according to Menkos, will be Q13 billion. It will have standards of transparency and accountability.
“The expansion is linked to the improvement in collection, we are having collection that grows 18 percent above the current goal. We believe that the collection can reach Q99,200 million, so it is more or less an increase of Q13 billion,” he indicated.
In recent weeks, the ruling party has lost strength in the Congress of the Republic. Just last week the Legislature turned its back on the president by not ratifying the State of Calamity that he had decreed due to a series of forest fires.
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