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☆ Guatemala court suspends anti-graft candidate's party
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Reuters Editorial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PoliticsGuatemala court suspends anti-graft candidate's partyPostedA Guatemalan court ordered the suspension of anti-graft presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo's political party, a prosecutor said on Wednesday, threatening his place in a run-off vote and prompting U.S. warnings of a challenge to democracy. Gabe Singer reports.

Persons: Bernardo Arevalo's, Gabe Singer Locations: Guatemala

☆ Guatemala court suspends anti-graft presidential candidate's party
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Sofia Menchu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

GUATEMALA CITY, July 12 (Reuters) - A court in Guatemala suspended the party of anti-graft presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo, a prosecutor at the Attorney General's Office said on Wednesday, throwing into question his place in a second round run-off vote. "In no way will we obey a spurious and illegal decision like the one issued by that court." Shortly after, the electoral court confirmed the first-round results, which put Arevalo into a second round. "It's something that concerns us as a court, because we know that elections are won at the polls," Irma Palencia, head of the electoral court, said when asked about the suspension. This would certainly represent an astounding new low for Guatemala," said Donald J. Planty, a former U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, about the possible suspension.

Persons: Bernardo Arevalo, Attorney General's, Arevalo, Rafael Curruchiche, Sandra Torres, Irma Palencia, Brian A, Nichols, Guatemalans, Juan Jose Arevalo, Carlos Pineda, Will Freeman, Semilla, Critics, Alejandro Giammattei, Donald J, Sofia Menchu, Valentine Hilaire, David Alire, Adriana Barrera, Cassandra Garrison, Brendan O'Boyle, Stephen Eisenhammer, Lincoln, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: GUATEMALA CITY, Attorney, CNN, Twitter, U.S, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Central American, Council, Foreign Relations, Thomson Locations: GUATEMALA, Guatemala, Nicaragua, U.S

☆ OAS urges Guatemalan authorities to move forward with election process
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Sofia Menchu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

According to preliminary results, anti-graft candidate Bernando Arevalo bucked forecasts to earn 11.8% of the vote, enough to secure a spot on the upcoming ballot. He trailed only behind former first lady Sandra Torres, with 15.8% of the vote. "The Mission verified that no serious irregularities were revealed and that no significant changes were registered with respect to the preliminary results of Sunday, June 25," the OAS said in a statement. However, on Friday night, the CSJ resolved to extend the suspension of the results for 10 more days. The electoral process in the Central American country has been strongly criticized by international and national organizations due to this unprecedented suspension of the official results.

Persons: Bernando Arevalo, Sandra Torres, CSJ, Torres, Arévalo, Sofia Menchu, Anna, Catherine Brigida, Franklin Paul Organizations: GUATEMALA CITY, of American States, Guatemalan Constitutional, Central American, Franklin Paul Our, Thomson Locations: GUATEMALA, Guatemalan

Now, in their next step to consolidate power, they are trying to manipulate the national elections that are underway. In anticipation of the 2023 elections, President Alejandro Giammattei packed the courts and the electoral tribunal with loyalists. The ruling regime and its allies then enlisted these entities to distort the Constitution and tamper with election procedures to tilt the political playing field in their favor. Many fear the ruling could pave the way for additional spurious challenges that could eventually overturn the results, delay the second round or exclude Mr. Arévalo from competing altogether. The cries of fraud echo those in the United States after President Biden’s 2020 victory, although, with the entire judicial system on their side, Guatemala’s election deniers stand a better chance of pulling it off.

Persons: ”, Alejandro Giammattei, Bernardo Arévalo, Sandra Torres, Arévalo, Biden’s Organizations: National Unity of Hope, Constitutional Locations: United States

☆ Guatemala court orders presidential ballot review, opposition cries foul
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Sofia Menchu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Torres took 15.8% of the vote in the June 25 round, with Arevalo close behind with 11.8%. Some analysts expect Arevalo to win the runoff due to Torres' unpopularity in the voter-dense capital, Guatemala City. The court said it would then determine whether to take the rare step of mandating a recount. Arevalo said he would ask Guatemala's electoral court to annul the top court's decision, which he described as lacking legal merit and dangerous to the electoral process. In the days after the vote, Torres said she was concerned that votes had been manipulated with a faulty software system to favor Arevalo's party, Semilla.

Persons: Sandra Torres, Read, Bernardo Arevalo, Torres, Arevalo, Alejandro Giammattei's Vamos, Sofia Menchu, Daina Beth Solomon, William Mallard Organizations: National Unity of, GUATEMALA CITY, Central American, National Unity of Hope, Guatemalan, of American, Thomson Locations: Guatemala City, Guatemala, GUATEMALA

MEXICO CITY, June 26 (Reuters) - A woman who had just given birth was among 141 migrants detained at a bus checkpoint in southeastern Mexico on Monday, the same day another large group of migrants was found in the area crowded into the back of a trailer truck. The mother and her newborn girl were taken to a hospital after being detained, according to a statement by the National Migration Institute (INM). The mother was among a group of mostly Guatemalans found on the bus in the Gulf state of Veracruz. "(The woman) gave birth with the help of those that traveled with her, who cut the umbilical cord," the INM added. It comes after the institute reported on Monday that another 130 Guatemalan migrants had been detained in a truck in the same state.

Persons: Daina Beth Solomon, Isabel Woodford, Gerry Doyle Organizations: MEXICO CITY, National Migration Institute, United, Thomson Locations: MEXICO, Mexico, Gulf, Veracruz, Texas, United States

☆ Ex-First Lady, Center-Left Newcomer Head to Guatemalan Election Runoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Juan Montes | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/guatemalas-former-first-lady-heads-to-presidential-election-runoff-72dcc97c

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Analysis: Emergence of Guatemalan anti-graft champion shakes up election
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Sofia Menchu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] Presidential candidate for the Semilla party Bernardo Arevalo holds a rally at the Parque Central a day after the first round of Guatemala's presidential election, in Guatemala City, Guatemala June 26, 2023. Underlining voter frustration with the status-quo, nearly a quarter of ballots counted were either spoiled or left blank. Arevalo, who has called corruption a "cancer eating away" at Guatemala, will face former first lady Sandra Torres in the run-off. Torres, running in her third presidential contest, won 15.8% of the first-round vote to Arevalo's 11.8%. Aldana later sought asylum in the U.S., while current President Alejandro Giammattei himself became embroiled in corruption allegations, which he denies.

Persons: Bernardo Arevalo, Juan Jose Arevalo, Arevalo, Thelma Aldana, Otto Perez, Semilla, Bernardo, Nicol Estrada, Carlos Pineda, Will Freeman, Hugo Novales, Sandra Torres, Torres, Freeman, Semilla's, Aldana, Alejandro Giammattei, Juan Jose, Giammattei, Ivan Velasquez, Julia Esquivel, Jimmy Morales, Sofia Menchu, Dave Graham, Stephen Eisenhammer, Rosalba O'Brien, Leslie Adler Organizations: Parque, REUTERS, GUATEMALA CITY, Council, Foreign Relations, of, Guatemala's, U.S, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Parque Central, Guatemala City, Guatemala, Josue, GUATEMALA, Arevalo, U.S, Guatemalan

☆ Guatemalan Candidates Pledge to Imitate El Salvador’s Crime Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Juan Montes | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/guatemalan-candidates-pledge-to-imitate-el-salvadors-crime-crackdown-edc665d7

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Guatemala Picks a New President: What You Need to Know
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Jody García | Simon Romero | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Another top challenger, Zury Ríos, 55, is also a familiar figure in Guatemalan politics. She is the daughter of Efraín Ríos Montt, a dictator in the early 1980s who was convicted in 2013 of genocide for trying to exterminate the Ixil, a Mayan people. While the evidence against her father was meticulously documented and detailed at his trial, Ms. Ríos has claimed repeatedly that no genocide ever took place. Her ultraconservative party is led by figures with links to her father. Still, while Ms. Ríos promotes her conservative credentials and evangelical Christian beliefs, she has a more nuanced record as a former member of Congress when she forged alliances in an effort to win legislative approval for bills aimed at improving conditions for women and L.G.T.B.Q.

Persons: Torres, Zury Ríos, Efraín Ríos Montt, Ríos, Still, Edmond Mulet, Mulet Organizations: European Union, United Nations Stabilization Locations: El Salvador, United States, Haiti

☆ Guatemala will vote for new president but critics say many anti-corruption candidates were weeded out
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Tara John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

One of the expelled candidates, the rightwing Roberto Arzú, was a vocal critic of President Alejandro Giammattei. Employees of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) arrange ahead of the general elections in Guatemala City on June 20, 2023. Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty ImagesIt’s not the first time that Guatemala’s electoral tribunal eliminates presidential hopefuls, but this year’s cycle is happening in rapidly shrinking civic space. Failing battle against corruptionRights groups say graft and impunity accelerated in the country after former President Jimmy Morales dissolved a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission in 2019. The candidatesThe US and Western allies have raised concerns about the exclusion of presidential candidates in Guatemala.

Persons: CNN —, Sandra Torres, Thelma Cabrera, Carlos Pineda –, ” Will Freeman, Roberto Arzú, Alejandro Giammattei, Cabrera, Pineda, Tik Tok, ”, Johan Ordonez, we’ve, Caren, Jimmy Morales, Consuelo Porras Argueta, Antony Blinken, José Rubén Zamora, Moises Castillo, Porras, –, Kevin López, Giammattei, Freeman, Biden, “, ” Freeman, Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, Guatemalans, Maria Consuelo Porras, Mulet, Carin, Edmont, Ríos, Torres, Rios, El, Nayib Bukele, Álvaro Colom, Colom, Efraín Ríos Montt, CICIG Organizations: CNN, Council, Foreign Relations, Twitter, “ Corruption, Constitutional, ” CNN, Getty, Americas Society, United, International Commission, Washington Office, Guatemala Human Rights, USA, Prosecutors, US, State, José Rubén Zamora –, . Press, Patrol, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Public Ministry, United Nations, Agence, France Presse, Analysts Locations: Central America’s, Guatemala, America, Guatemala City, Americas, United Nations, Guatemalan, Central America, American, Washington, United States, Haiti, Nicaragua, France

☆ Guatemalan ex-first lady Torres polls first in crowded field ahead of Sunday vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GUATEMALA CITY, June 22 (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan first lady Sandra Torres leads her competitors in the Central American country's presidential race, according to a poll published Thursday by newspaper Prensa Libre, the last before Sunday's election. Diplomat Edmond Mulet trailed Torres with 13.4% support, followed by Zury Rios, the daughter of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, at 9.1%. Torres, a well-known but polarizing figure, finished first in the first round of Guatemala's 2019 election, but lost to current President Alejandro Giammattei in a runoff. If no candidate earns 50% of the vote on Sunday, the top two will compete in a runoff on Aug. 20. Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Sandra Torres, Torres, Alvaro Colom, Edmond Mulet, Zury Rios, Efrain Rios Montt, Alejandro Giammattei, Giammattei, Carlos Pineda, Sofia Menchu, Brendan O'Boyle, Hugh Lawson Organizations: GUATEMALA CITY, Central American, Prensa Libre, Torres, Electoral, Washington Office, Thomson Locations: GUATEMALA, Guatemalan, America

A Guatemalan judge walked into a meeting at the American Embassy last spring and pulled out a large quantity of cash: The money, she said, was a bribe from one of the president’s closest allies. The judge, Blanca Alfaro, helps lead the authority that oversees the country’s elections. She claimed the money had been given to her to gain influence over the electoral agency, according to a U.S. official briefed on the encounter and a person who was present and requested anonymity to discuss the details of a private meeting. American diplomats were shocked by the brazenness of the episode, but not by the allegations. In the volatile political climate consuming Guatemala in the run-up to presidential elections on Sunday, there has been one constant: a steady drumbeat of attacks on democratic institutions by those in power.

Persons: Blanca Alfaro Organizations: American Embassy, U.S Locations: Guatemala

☆ Mexican officials find 129 migrants in truck amid heat wave
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Instituto Nacional de... Read moreMEXICO CITY, June 17 (Reuters) - Mexican authorities found 129 migrants, mostly from Guatemala, crowded into a truck trailer in the eastern state of Veracruz, the National Migration Institute (INM) said in a statement on Saturday. The migrants were crammed into a trailer in the midst of a heat wave in Mexico, where higher-than-normal temperatures have topped 45C (113F) in several states, including Veracruz, where the operation took place. Immigration agents in late May had uncovered another 175 migrants further south, mainly from Central America, in Chiapas state. Migrants fleeing violence and poverty in Latin America frequently pay smugglers in an attempt to pass through Mexico bound for the U.S. Among the travelers found on Friday were adults from Guatemala, Honduras, India and El Salvador, and 19 unaccompanied minors, the migration institute said.

Persons: Francisco Garduño, Lucinda Elliott, Aida Pelaez, Fernandez, Franklin Paul Organizations: Mexico's National Institute of Migration, INM, Instituto Nacional de, Read, MEXICO CITY, National Migration Institute, U.S, Franklin Paul Our, Thomson Locations: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, India, MEXICO, Veracruz, Mexico, Central America, Chiapas, America

☆ Guatemala court sentences journalist to 6 years in prison for money laundering
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GUATEMALA CITY, June 14 (Reuters) - A Guatemalan court on Wednesday sentenced Jose Zamora, a well-known journalist whose work has criticized successive governments, to six years in prison for money laundering in a case rights groups have branded an attack on free speech. Zamora was also issued a 300,000 quetzal ($38,339) fine, the court said. He was arrested in July last year during a crackdown on prosecutors, judges, human rights activists, journalists and opposition officials. According to the attorney general's office, Zamora allegedly received $38,461 to finance his media outlet, which was not regularly deposited into the banking system. The rights group is "very concerned" that Guatemala's prosecutors' office is investigating journalists and columnists from elPeriodico who covered Zamora's case, Goebertus added.

Persons: Jose Zamora, Zamora, Alejandro Giammattei, Juanita Goebertus, Goebertus, Sofia Menchu, Sarah Morland, Brendan O'Boyle, Bill Berkrot Organizations: GUATEMALA CITY, elPeriodico, Rights, Thomson Locations: GUATEMALA, Zamora's, Guatemala, Americas

☆ Archaeologists discover a lost world of 417 ancient Mayans cities buried in remote jungle, connected by miles of 'superhighways,' WaPo reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Scientists in Guatemala have discovered "the first freeway system in the world," The Washington Post reports. Archaeologists have found ancient Mayans built 417 cities interconnected by 110 miles of "superhighways." Historians to rethink what they know of ancient Mayan civilization. The findings have unveiled "a whole volume of human history that we've never known," he told the Post. It allowed the scientists to see ancient dams, reservoirs, pyramids, platforms, causeway networks, and even ball courts, per the study.

☆ Guatemala's presidential frontrunner thrown off ballot, promises appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Sofia Menchu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

He accused the court of kicking him off the ballot because he refused to be an "ally of corruption." In a recent poll, Pineda led all candidates with 23% support, emerging as the favorite to replace Giammattei. Critics accuse Giammattei of unprecedented repression of judges, prosecutors, journalists and activists, many of whom have fled the country. Pineda had been a CAMBIO party presidential candidate before switching to PC earlier this year, due to clashes with the Baldizon family. Other presidential hopefuls, leftist Thelma Cabrera and conservative Roberto Arzu, were previously forced out of the race.

☆ Is Mexico doing the US’s ‘dirty work’ when it comes to migration?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Rafael Romo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But the enforcement has been chaotic, sporadic and, in the words of a former top Mexican official, “inefficient.”Tonatiuh Guillén was commissioner of Mexico’s National Migration Institute until 2019. Luis Barron/Eyepix Group/NurPhoto/AP“Mexico became a control territory, [a place of] a severe migration policy, detentions, deterrence, and expulsions. ‘This is not about doing the United States’ dirty work’Mexican President Obrador denies Mexico is doing the US’s bidding when it comes to migration. Two months later, another 47 migrants were found alive crammed inside a truck in Matehuala (San Luis Potosí state), Mexico. Viangly, a Venezuelan migrant, reacts outside an ambulance while firefighters remove injured migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from a National Migration Institute building during a fire in Ciudad Juarez on March 27, 2023.

☆ Title 42 dramatically changed who arrived at U.S.-Mexico border
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Title 42 dramatically changed who arrived at the borderChart showing that before Title 42 began, most people apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border were Mexican, Guatemalan, Slavadorian or Honduran. Title 42 mostly applied to Mexican migrants Mexicans are the nationality most frequently caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and also made up the largest group of quick Title 42 expulsions. With Title 42 in place, Mexican migrants processed under Title 8 dropped, as most were deported to Mexico under Title 42. Chart showing the breakdown of migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador apprehended under Title 8 and Title 42. All four nationalities began to increase once Title 42 began until Title 42 was expanded to include people from Venezuela in October 2022 and people from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua in January 2023.

Two dozen National Guard troops quickly set about stretching coils of barbed wire across the cement base of the bridge where the migrants had been. Under the order known as Title 42, U.S. authorities could quickly turn back migrants without giving them a chance to seek asylum. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday said the number of migrants crossing the border fell by half since the end of Title 42. A Dominican couple under the bridge told Reuters they had just reached Ciudad Juarez and had not heard of it. Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon and Jose Luis Gonzalez in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fact Check-Video shows migrants clashing with Guatemalan police, not protests against Imran Khan’s arrest
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Footage of migrants clashing with lines of Guatemalan police while heading into Mexico with the hopes of arriving in the United States in 2021 has been shared on social media with false captions saying it shows demonstrations in Pakistan against the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Visuals from Kashmir highway where thousands of protesters breach Police blockade and advance towards the capital, Islamabad,” read posts on Twitter and Facebook (here), (here) and (here). The video can be traced back to a 2021 NBC News report about Guatemalan police beating back a caravan of migrants bound for the United States (here). Violent protests erupted across Pakistan following former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest at the Islamabad High Court on May 9, Reuters reported (here). Video shows Guatemalan police clashing with migrants in 2021.

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - A Miami-based digital marketing firm was behind a series of covert political influence operations in Latin America over the last year, Facebook-owner Meta (META.O) said this week, a rare exposé of an apparent U.S.-based misinformation-for-hire outfit. "It's a classic pattern that you tend to see with for-hire influence operations," said Ben Nimmo, Meta's Global Threat Intelligence Lead. Meta says it regularly takes down disinformation and misinformation operations in order to maintain the integrity of its platform. Twitter said in a September 2022 blog that it had shared datasets about influence operations with Cazadores. Former Twitter employees told Reuters in January that most of the staff involved in the TMRC had since left and Reuters could not determine if it was still operational.

☆ They've been beaten, trolled, threatened with sexual violence but refuse to be silenced
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Adie Vanessa Offiong | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Ixchíu Hernández had already been the victim of years of online threats -- attempts to humiliate and silence her. Published in April 2021, it reveals: "Online attacks on women journalists appear to be increasing significantly, as this study demonstrates, particularly in the context of the 'shadow pandemic' of violence against women during COVID-19. "Online violence against women journalists is designed to: belittle, humiliate, and shame; induce fear, silence, and retreat; discredit them professionally, undermining accountability journalism and trust in facts; and chill their active participation...in public debate. Ricchiardi-Folwell explains that because of the often-sexualized nature of the attacks, women remain silent about their harassment, which leads them to believe they are alone. Editor's note: This story was originally published in 2021 and updated to reference the latest report by UNESCO.

☆ Guatemala president pledges strong support for 'Republic of Taiwan'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Speaking at a welcoming ceremony outside Taiwan's presidential office, Giammattei said Guatemala and Taiwan were "brotherly countries" and important allies. Speaking in Spanish, he referred twice to the "Republic of Taiwan", rather than its official name, the Republic of China, generally stylised these days by the government as the Republic of China, Taiwan. Giammattei, standing next to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, ended his speech with a rousing "long live free Taiwan", receiving a broad smile from Tsai who thanked him in English. [1/6] Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen walks next to Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei during his welcome ceremony in front of the Presidential building in Taipei, Taiwan April 25, 2023. Giammattei is paying a return visit to Taiwan after Tsai visited Guatemala less than a month ago.

☆ Guatemala not asking Taiwan for 'free money', does not owe debt like Honduras
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A Taiwan and Guatemala flag is seen at an investment event in Taipei, Taiwan April 24, 2023. REUTERS/Ann WangTAIPEI, April 24 (Reuters) - Guatemala is not asking for "free money" from Taiwan and does not owe debt in the same way Honduras does, but is looking for long-term investment and trade, senior Guatemalan financial officials said on Monday. Guatemala is one of only 13 countries to maintain formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan. Honduras abandoned Taipei for Beijing last month after asking for almost $2.5 billion in aid. "We heard it in the news, but we are focused on solutions that we need for our country," Rosales said of China's comments.

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