By Victor Ferrigno F.
To Claudia Gonzalez Orellana, courageous lawyer and exemplary citizen.
Never has an electoral process, like the current one, been subjected to a legaloid scramble that accuses an abusive interpretation of the law, as the OEA described the arbitrariness of the Public Ministry (MP), sowing uncertainty among citizens, eroding republican institutions and pretending to annul the sovereign will of the People, expressed at the polls, which will prevail despite the judicial deceit and arbitrariness of court henchmen and third-rate cagatintas.
Last Monday night, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) made the results of the ballot official, with which the election of Bernardo Arévalo and Karin Herrera was firm and, except for a technical coup, nothing and no one can prevent them from taking office. as president and vice president, on January 14, 2024, as mandated by the Constitution.
However, hours before, the Electoral Registrar provisionally suspended the Movimiento Semilla party, complying with the resolution of Judge Nery Orellana, he said, arguing that the electoral process ended on August 28, with the awarding of positions to the presidential binomial. This assertion was corrected by the TSE President Magistrate, a couple of hours later, clarifying that, as established in the call for elections, the electoral process ends on October 31, to allow time to resolve all the challenges that are presented. .
Last July, Ramiro Muñoz, Electoral Registrar, filed an amparo action in the Judicial Branch (OJ) against the resolution that was issued by the Seventh Criminal Court, which ordered the cancellation of the Seed Movement. However, protection was not granted, since the Constitutional Court (CC) had already provisionally protected the party, according to the resolution of the First Chamber of the Court of Appeals.
Muñoz did not comply with the resolution of Judge Nery Orellana, protected by article 92 of the Electoral Law and Political Parties (LEPP), which establishes that, once the elections have started, no party can be suspended. In response, the Curruchiche prosecutor launched an intense criminal prosecution, which forced the Registrar to request vacation, anticipating that he would be deprived of the right to a trial, which the position grants him, and then he would be captured and arbitrarily prosecuted.
The obligatory question is: why did you now comply with Semilla’s temporary suspension order, and made a blunder, or intentional, by confusing the end date of the elections? In my opinion, it could be a legal move, so that he can no longer be accused of contempt, and serve Semilla on a silver platter an irrefutable argument to file an appeal for annulment, as happened yesterday Tuesday.
As we have repeatedly stated in this column, neither the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Corruption and Impunity (FECI), nor Judge Orellana, have legal competence to promote the provisional or definitive suspension of the Seed Movement, a power that the LEPP, a norm of constitutional rank , grants the TSE. For this reason, it is foreseeable that said jurisdictional body will resolve the appeal for annulment of the Seed Movement, dealing a new setback to the corrupt pact.
In the unlikely event that Semilla were suspended as a political institute, neither the presidential binomial nor the elected deputies could be stripped of their posts.
Along with multiple adverse citizen expressions, the OAS General Secretariat denounced, last Monday, that the provisional suspension of the Seed Movement has “no foundation or duly proven reason” and has warned that it violates constitutional principles and international norms.
Yesterday, President Giammattei assured that the transfer of command is guaranteed, established that an orderly and comprehensive transition process will begin on September 4, and that he will ask the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, to be present at that first meeting as guarantor.
While Giammattei raises these alleged guarantees, his political operators in the MP, accused of corrupt and undemocratic agents by the US government, are pressing for the suspension of the Seed Movement, and the Second Chamber of the Court of Appeals denied an amparo with the that Bernardo Arévalo and Karin Herrera tried to stop the order of judge Fredy Orellana to suspend the party, at the request of the FECI.
It is a masked ball, a literal masquerade, in which the cadres of the corrupt pact say one thing and act in the opposite direction. It must be clear, once and for all, that the criminal pact has broken the rule of law, violates constitutional guarantees, and makes the justice system an instrument of spurious criminal prosecution of honest citizens.
Particular attention deserves the arbitrary detention of the brave lawyer Claudia González Orellana, ex-president of the disappeared International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala and lawyer of the ex-head of FECI, Juan Francisco Sandoval, accused of the crime of abuse of authority, although according to her, said type Criminal law cannot be applied to her person, since she has never been a public official. González is in charge of defending more than one hundred cases of people criminalized by the MP. Her detention seeks to hinder the defense of opponents, and intimidate her defense lawyers.
Another setback for the corrupt pact was the denial of the amparo filed by Consuelo Porras, against the president, the minister of the interior and the director of the National Civil Police, for not acting against and repressing the citizens and journalists who have requested their resignation. , and call sit-ins in front of the MP. This amparo sought to silence the exercise of freedom of expression and evidenced the intolerance of the official.
Given all these facts, the OAS Permanent Council will hold an extraordinary session on Thursday, August 31, to consider “the situation in Guatemala.” This in response to the requests of the missions of Chile, Colombia, Antigua and Barbuda, the United States, Canada and Costa Rica.
For its part, “The European Union calls on all political parties, branches of government and Guatemalan institutions to fully respect the integrity of the electoral process and its results, as clearly expressed by Guatemalan citizens at the polls.” Due to the arbitrariness exposed, Guatemala isolates itself in the concert of nations, acquiring the status of pariah country.
With the support of the international community, citizens, men and women, we must take to the streets to defend democracy, since it is no longer possible to trust the Courts, nor to appeal to the rule of law. As in 1944, only with massive social participation will the sovereign will of the People of Guatemala prevail.
Source The Time