President Arrivalo is left with no alternatives to dismissing the Attorney General

The options for the President to achieve the dismissal of the Attorney General are reduced. The recent rejection by the Constitutional Court (CC) makes the President dependent on Congress, which has so far been out of debate.

The CC resolved an advisory opinion in which President Bernardo Arevalo sought to remove María Consuelo Boras as head of the Ministry of Public Affairs (MP). But the resolution did not turn out as expected by the executive committee.

With this judicial setback, the president’s alternatives fall to the legislature. The delegates did not want to attend the last sessions of the past ordinary and did not support the President’s initiative.

The CC declared the proposals unacceptable because it found the questions to be fictitious and poorly designed. “This indicates that the manner in which the question was raised is unacceptable,” the constitutional resolution quoted.

But for lawyer Edgar Ortiz, an expert in constitutional law, while some questions may have fallen into hypothetical scenarios, there were others that deserved answers. In particular, those who question the honor of the Attorney General.

“I think it’s not so much a problem with the questions, rather the CC is clearly trying to avoid and make a point. Based on the doubts raised by the President, I don’t believe that changing the questions will yield a positive response,” he said.

Ortiz assumes that when a question is asked again the answer is practically the same. But since there is no positive or negative response from the CC, he assesses that the president’s legal analysis will lead him to analyze other scenarios.

Importantly, doubts regarding the prestige of the Attorney General’s office remain unaddressed.

“If his legal hypothesis is that a recognized reputation is a requirement that must be maintained throughout tenure, that’s another avenue he could explore because he might choose to eliminate that avenue and wait until it’s litigated. Defense.” If so, CC should know, but that would be a very risky move,” he pointed out.

They analyze the scene

For his part, General Secretary of the President Juan Gerardo Guerrero confirms that they are studying the resolution. They reject extension or clarification. Because in 90 percent, according to their experience, they are rejected by the judicial authorities.

Another situation that arises is reframing the query and making changes to the questions. But I do not consider that it changes the substance of the resolution either.

“If we present the advisory opinion again, we will have to make a decision, however, it is very clear that the CC, no matter how the question is phrased, does not want to know the problems of Consuelo Boras. That is the reality,” said the secretary.

Guerrero affirms that although the constitutionality-laden resolution debated how the president’s questions were framed, they were upheld.

The CC agrees with Ortiz that it chose to avoid establishing a position on the situation.

“They had to answer the president’s questions positively or negatively, there was no neutral. But having received the document, they would have rejected the request and not entered into it, seeing that there were imaginary questions,” noted the General Secretary.

The CC announced its decision to the President last Monday. Therefore, the legal committee examines what is the legal course to follow.

Secretary Guerrero did not dare to present criteria for when they could make a decision. But consider that the other alternative they have left is with the Congress.

The CC was consulted about the resolution, however, its communications team pointed out that “the court has no opinion on the matter”.

Similarly, an attempt was made to seek the opinion of the Ministry of Public Affairs, but they did not respond to the request.

They are looking for support

President Arevalo presented to Congress a plan to reform the Organic Law of the MP. By doing so, he should remove the Attorney General.

Official Deputy, Raul Barrera, they are seeking support so that it is known before the second period of ordinary sessions.

“If we seek a national emergency and the circumstances are not conducive to getting 107 votes, it should be in three different readings. “We are always communicating with political actors and communicating our needs as an official party.”

The President’s initiative has not even been referred to the Commission for the corresponding analysis.