GUATEMALA-POLITICS/ (PHOTO) – REUTERS Agency
GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 6 (Reuters) – The head of the Organization of American States (OAS) said late on Friday that he had accepted an invitation to mediate between Guatemalan authorities and street protests calling for an orderly transfer of power to the elected president Bernardo Arévalo.
In a social media post, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said he had accepted the invitation from the Government of Guatemala, and published a letter from the Foreign Ministry dated Friday that described the invitation as a means to achieve “consensus among the different sectors” of the country.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Guatemala this week, demanding the resignation of Public Ministry officials, including its head, whom they accuse of working to undermine Arévalo’s ability to take office.
Arévalo was elected by a large majority in August, but since then Attorney General Consuelo Porras has intensified her efforts to disqualify her Movimiento Semilla party, which championed the fight against corruption, and has ordered raids on the authority’s offices. electoral, seizing ballots.
Porras’ office alleges that the party’s registration six years ago had irregularities, but its investigation only began after Arévalo’s unexpected second place in the first round in June.
The attorney general has been accused of corruption by the United States Government.
By Friday, protests had spread to more than 60 locations in the most populous country in Central America, led by indigenous groups, students, teachers and health sector workers. (Reporting by Sofía Menchú in Guatemala City; writing by David Alire García; Edited in Spanish by Aida Peláez-Fernández)
Source: Ambito
