Puebla Group Warns About the Danger of a Coup in Guatemala

On Monday, several Ibero-American former presidents gathered in the Puebla Group denounced the "lawfare" that is underway against Bernardo Arevalo, the elected president of Guatemala.

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"We warn of the danger of a coup d'état in process. We call on the international community to support a peaceful and legal transition that allows authorities elected by the people to access the government, which would be a definitive step to ensure democratic continuity and recover the rule of law in Guatemala," the Puebla Group said in a statement signed by former presidents such as Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (Spain), Ernesto Samper (Colombia) and Rafael Correa (Ecuador).

"During the electoral process, there have been various attempts to delegitimize the winning candidacy and the Semilla party through threats to the lives of the leaders, illegal raids on their campaign headquarters, and announcements of arbitrary arrests."

The Puebla Group denounced other actions against the Seed Party, such as the invalidation of the election of its leftist bank and the requests for new elections so that Congress can appoint a "provisional governor", which would be a way of ignoring the results of the elections. presidential elections and maintain chaos in Guatemala.

"There is no constitutional cause to annul the elections," the Latin American Council for Justice and Democracy (CLAJUD) said, adding that criminal judges cannot attribute to themselves functions that the Constitution gives to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

"The pretense of appointing an interim president by Congress would imply a clear denial of the Constitution and the will of the people expressed in the last elections in favor of President Bernardo Arevalo," the Puebla Group emphasized.

For this reason, these Ibero-American progressive intellectuals and politicians emphatically requested Guatemalan authorities to make the results of the elections official by investing Arevalo as president and canceling the decision to outlaw the Semilla party.

"We denounce the systematic judicialization of the electoral process, which occurs amid a total loss of institutionality caused by right-wing politicians that have been mired in corruption and allowed the advance of organized crime in the country."