The Special Prosecutor against Impunity has brought preliminary criminal proceedings against President Bernardo Arévalo for his alleged participation in a scheme in which the government allegedly made irregular payments to businesses for public works. According to the Special Prosecutor, Arévalo should be charged with abuse of authority and influence peddling. A member of Arévalo’s cabinet and Head of the Victims’ Institute, Ligia Hernandez, has been arrested in the context of a different investigation, one related to the alleged illicit financing of the now-suspended Seed Movement Party. Arevalo has denounced the prosecutions as politically motivated, which are widely regarded by both national and regional experts as part of the broader efforts by some domestic actors, including the Public Prosecutor’s office, to undermine the government and hamper its anti-corruption agenda. 

Sources: La Hora, Agencia Guatemalteca de Noticias, CNN (1), Prensa Libre, CNN (2)

President Bernardo Arévalo presented an initiative to Congress to modify the law governing the Public Prosecutor’s Office to reinstate the executive’s power to remove the chief prosecutor (Fiscal General). Current top prosecutor Consuelo Porras has been accused of selectively investigating Arévalo and his political party, to undermine the results and meddle in last year’s general elections. Porras, who has been the subject of international sanctions, has condemned Arévalo’s proposal and challenged it before the Constitutional Court. Though the initiative stalled in Congress, the Court granted a provisional protection (amparo provisional) and ordered Arévalo to refrain from taking any measure outside of the constitutional and legal framework against Porras’s term in office, and to refrain from acting against the autonomy of the Public Prosecutor’s office.  The president has sought to remove Porras through other means, such as a request to the Constitutional Court for an opinion on Porras’s suitability as top prosecutor and has argued that she has enabled impunity and corruption, an assessment shared by other political actors and many citizens.

Sources: TelesurTV, Prensa Libre, El Pais

On 14 March, four electoral judges of Guatemala’s Electoral Tribunal were indicted for fraud for allegedly purchasing results transmission technology (for the 2023 elections) at inflated prices. The judges had been stripped of their immunity by a majority in Congress last November, in a measure widely deemed political in nature and criticised as part of the prosecutorial efforts to overturn the results of the 2023 elections. The move had sparked international condemnation and sanctions by the United States. Since then, the electoral judges had been in exile. Upon their return to Guatemala to face the accusations, the presiding criminal judge refused prosecutors’ call for the electoral judges to face additional charges for breach of duties and to remain in pre-trial detention.  

Sources: Agencia Guatemalteca de Noticias, France 24, Associated Press 

Bernardo Arévalo took office as President of Guatemala after numerous post-election hurdles and delays. Prosecutorial actions and investigations into Arévalo and his Semilla Party, widely considered to be unfounded and political in nature, as well as other attempts to undermine the Electoral Tribunal’s authority, had caused serious concerns about the transition of power. 

A group of regional leaders and diplomats, including the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, issued a statement in support of Arévalo, underlining the need to ensure that the popular will be respected and calling on Congress to abide by its mandate. 

Days later, the Constitutional Court ordered that elections for congressional leadership be repeated. This followed an appeal by a member of the opposition, who argued that due to the suspension of Semilla’s legal personality, its members could not take leadership roles. After a repeat election, a Blue Party legislator assumed the presidency of Congress’s Board, excluding Semilla Party members from leadership positions. 

Sources: France 24, El País (1),  El País (2)