Guatemala’s attorney general has urged the government to take action against largely pro-democracy protestors who have been taking to the streets for weeks calling for her resignation for what they believe are evident attempts to undermine their country’s democracy.
Protests erupted in Guatemala two weeks ago following one of the country’s most chaotic elections in recent memory.
According to reports, the protests are spurred by allegations that Attorney General Consuelo Porras attempted to block President-elect Bernardo Arévalo from taking office in January.
Arévalo, a progressive outsider fighting the elite who have long ruled the Central American nation, and his Seed Movement party have faced waves of legal challenges since emerging as a political contender earlier this year. Those intensified after he won the country’s elections in August.
Raids on electoral facilities and the suspension of Arévalo’s political party have been among the attacks, essentially limiting his ability to govern.
However, such actions against the incoming president encouraged Indigenous groups and rural residents who had long been marginalized in Guatemalan culture to call for an indefinite strike that began with 14 blockades.
Now two weeks into protests, the blockades have since expanded to block more than 80 roads throughout the country.
Demonstrators have been mostly peaceful, but her message comes in the wake of a few events over the weekend. People who were irritated by the roadblocks drove their cars at protestors and were eventually arrested for inflicting material damage and attempting to endanger the protesters’ lives.
The US government sanctioned Porras and other prosecutors and revoked their entrance visas, accusing them of hindering the anti-corruption effort and undermining democracy in the country.
