Guatemala - May 2024

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