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Soriek  6mo ago (text post)   1142 thread views

Transnational Thursdays 25

This is a weekly thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or IR history. I usually start off with coverage of some current events from a mix of countries I follow personally and countries I think the forum lives in or might be interested in. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Guatemala

Followers here have heard the evolving story of how Bernardo Arévalo, son of Guatemala’s first democratically elected President, rose up as an underdog candidate to commandingly win an upset against an establishment opponent. Guatemala’s traditional powerbrokers has tried every dirty trick in the book to keep him from coming to power, including raiding their offices and suing to invalidate his candidacy. This week they have finally officially suspended his party, Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement). However, the Supreme Court has said they cannot stop Arevalo from actually becoming President, or reverse the 23 seats his party won, which leaves the legal status of…everything, basically, a little unclear. Protests have been going on for weeks against this crackdown and now look poised to increase significantly.

The legal actions of Porras and Orellana have triggered mass protests and road blockades, with demonstrators demanding their resignation and a clean-up of the justice system. Indigenous movements have been leading the popular mobilizations and the national strike. On Wednesday, Indigenous leaders said that they will continue to “resist” the Prosecutor’s Office.

The organizations announced that they will hold several marches on November 3 and 4 in the center of Guatemala City, while maintaining the sit-in that they have been carrying out since October 2 in front of the Prosecutor’s Office.

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