The United States and the European Union accused the Guatemalan government of “undermining the will of the people”.

The United States charged last Friday Guatemala Public Prosecutor’s Office of attempting to “undermine the will of the Guatemalan people” by raiding the headquarters of the Seed Movement, a gesture he considered typical of “dictatorships” such as the one in Nicaragua.

“The use of judicial institutions in an arbitrary and political manner is a procedure used by him authoritarian governmentsNot only in Latin America but in other parts of the world. We see it in Cuba and Nicaragua. It is part of Dictatorship Handbookhe told the news agency EFE A senior US government official on condition of anonymity.

In turn, the European Union’s External Action Service reiterated its call to the Guatemalan authorities to “fully respect” the integrity of the electoral process and the results of the first round of voting, validated by the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

“The European Union is deeply concerned about the measures taken by the Office of the Special Prosecutor against impunity It resulted in arrest warrants for the deputy director of Citizens’ Register and a member of Semilla’s political party, as well as a search of the TSE’s officesEuropean diplomacy said in a statement.

The raid comes as part of the Attorney General’s office’s attempts to suspend Semilla, the party that runs Bernardo Arevalo de Leon’s progressive for the presidency, ahead of the second round of elections, scheduled for August 20, in which he will face former first lady Sandra Torres.

Joe Biden’s government is following this issue “closely” and is thinking about it The Public Prosecution Office’s efforts are “extremely disturbing” to “undermine the will of the Guatemalan people to elect their leaders.”said the senior official.

He noted that the United States had sanctioned the Special Prosecutor against Impunity, Rafael Kuroshichi, and the Prosecutor General of Guatemala, María Consuelo Porras, and warned that Washington is “ready” to use all necessary tools “to defend the Guatemalan people.”

The State Department also on Thursday included in the so-called “Engel list” the corrupt Guatemalan prosecutor Cynthia Monteroso, who carried out the indictment against Similla, and Judge Freddy Orellana, who upheld the suspension of formation.

The senior administrative official noted that the electoral mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) endorsed the integrity of the first round held on June 25, and called for That “the Guatemalan people will be left” to decide in the second round on August 20.

The American ambassador to the Guatemalan country, William Pope, was in contact with all representatives, including the Arevalo and Torres campaigns.

The official also emphasized that the actions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office had been rejected by the international community and “mass mobilization in Guatemala”, made up of civil society, the private sector and the church.

The Guatemalan Constitutional Court, which blocked the attempts of the Attorney General’s Office, confirmed on Friday that the second round of the elections scheduled for August 20 should take place with the candidates Torres and Arevalo de Leon.

Arevalo de Leon She was able to advance to the run-off after surprisingly finishing second in the June 25 election, behind the former first lady, while Polls place him in seventh or eighth place.

The Simela group was born out of anti-corruption demonstrations recorded in the Central American country during 2015 that culminated in the downfall of the government of Otto Perez Molina (2012-2015), who is currently imprisoned.

(with information from EFE)

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