GUATEMALA CITY — The U.S. State Division mentioned Sunday it’s “deeply involved” that Guatemala’s Public Ministry is attempting to undermine the switch of energy to President-elect Bernardo Arevalo, who gained a landslide victory in August.
The ministry, which operates just like prosecutors in different international locations, raided the Supreme Electoral Courtroom on Friday for at the least 20 hours to confiscate containers containing tabulations of votes within the basic election.
“The US is deeply involved by ongoing efforts to undermine the peaceable transition of energy in Guatemala to President-elect Arevalo,” State Division spokesman Matthew Miller mentioned in a press release.
The assertion added that the US imposes visa restrictions on present and former members of Congress, justice officers, and anybody else who undermines democracy.
The Guatemalan authorities didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The Public Prosecution mentioned that it “acts in all circumstances objectively and impartially to make sure strict compliance with the regulation.”
Arevalo, a 64-year-old former diplomat and congressman, is scheduled to take workplace in January. He repeatedly complained of a “coup” and persecution by prosecutors in opposition to him and his Simela Motion social gathering.
“There isn’t a doubt that these actions… result in the nullification of the election consequence and the destruction of the democratic system,” Arevalo mentioned Saturday in a public video.
The UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on Sunday additionally expressed concern concerning the actions taken by the Workplace of the Prosecutor.
“These occasions are the newest in a protracted record of deeply worrying measures taken in current weeks, which – taken collectively – seem geared toward undermining the integrity of the electoral course of and undermining the rule of regulation extra usually,” Excessive Commissioner Volker Türk mentioned. a allow.