“I call on Parliament and the Supreme Court: the fate of the country and its democratic order is in your hands.” It is the heartfelt appeal of Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini Imeri, bishop of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, a respected spiritual leader in the country, who claims to know for sure that a conspiracy is afoot to issue an arrest warrant against him at a difficult time for democracy. The news has making the headlines throughout the country over the past days. In 1954, Cardinal Ramazzini was six years old when a military coup, heavily backed by the CIA, overthrew the democratically elected government that had redistributed the uncultivated land of the landowning elite to the peasants. The Cardinal had spent his youth and the first years of his priesthood courageously defending the poorest and most vulnerable, while the country was in the grip of one of the longest and most odious dictatorships in the Americas, torn apart by a civil war that lasted until the mid-1990s, one of the most forgotten conflicts of the 20th century, which ended in genocide, with 200,000 civilian deaths and numerous episodes of ethnic cleansing. He was fifty years old and already a bishop when, in 1998, two years after the ‘theoretical end’ of the conflict, his brother in the episcopate, Juan José Gerardi, known as the ‘forgotten Romero’, was assassinated by the government authorities.
Arévalo’s ‘unforeseen’ victory and the ‘slow-motion putsch.’ At the age of 75,
Card. Ramazzini is witnessing the first serious attempt in 70 years to establish full democracy and a fairer society in Guatemala,
Given that the “formally democratic” governments that have been in power for the last 25 years did vitually nothing to eradicate the oligarchies’ grip, perpetuating practices of corruption and privilege. They have also attempted to thwart these efforts and to silence by force even the most authoritative voice in the Guatemalan Church. Last August, the unexpected happened: the candidate of the moderate progressive party ‘Semilla’, Bernardo Arévalo, won the presidential run-off by a landslide, after ‘miraculously’ switching to the ‘national sport’ of preventing candidates who don’t belong to the ‘club’ of the usual favourites (as happened to the indigenous leader Thelma Cabrera) from running in the elections, and after winning second place in the first round with around 15% of the vote, against a highly fragmented backdrop (and after waiting a good three weeks for the official results). His victory over Sandra Torres in the run-off on 20 August was clear (around 60% of the vote) and fair, according to the Electoral Tribunal and international observers.
But since then, thanks to the very long ‘transition’ planned in the country (Arévalo is due to be sworn in on 14 January 2024), a clear attempt at a ‘slow-motion coup’ has begun,
with a steady stream of accusations and delegitimisations involving Arévalo, Vice President-elect Karin Herrera and the ‘Semilla’ party. After the Electoral Tribunal confirmed Arévalo’s victory, attempts were made to delegitimise this institution, and the Semilla party lost its credibility due to accusations of fraudulent election financing. Finally, Attorney General Consuelo Porras requested that Arévalo and Porras be deprived of their judicial immunity. Protests in support of the president-elect have been taking place in cities all over the country for the last few weeks.
The Cardinal’s appeal. Will Arévalo manage to be installed as president in spite of the difficult road ahead, without a parliamentary support? It is the hope of Cardinal Ramazzini, who spoke to SIR and appealed to all the national institutions: “Democracies are based on the balance of power. Arévalo’s victory was unanimously considered legitimate, the clear will of the electorate was manifested. In my opinion, everything is now in the hands of parliament, which will have to ratify the swearing in of the new president in January, and of the Supreme Court. I trust that they will act for the best, from the latter institution I expect a clear indication”.
The Cardinal insists that
“it is not a question of expressing political positions, but of recognising what everyone has seen, namely the result of fair elections.
We have a saying: you are looking for the fifth leg of the cat when everyone knows it only has four! No one is questioning the results of the local elections, for example. So why is this happening? The fact is that the new president is expected to make a break with the past.
For decades, no policies have been implemented to tackle the problem of poverty that affects the vast majority of the population, while the level of corruption in the country is scandalous.
Those in power are afraid that the skeletons will come out of the closet. For example, outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei mentioned that $1.2 million had flowed into the country as part of Covid-19 aid. However, there has been no word on the destination of the sum. I would like to make it clear that this is a question and not an accusation.”
The bishop says he is shocked by the “judicial fury” that has befallen the victors, especially in a country notorious for granting “impunity” to those in power. “Prosecutor Porras is a practicing Catholic. I’m surprised to see that her behaviour contradicts her moral standards, and there’s a risk that the whole judicial system will be discredited. I am also worried about how public opinion will react. Most people are aware of the repercussions of this situation without having the tools to critically analyse it.”
The position of the Church and international organisations. The Church in Guatemala, starting with the Bishops’ Conference, has on several occasions expressed its support for respecting the will of the people.
“We are concerned about the future of the country and its people,
about the fight against poverty, against corruption, against drug trafficking, which, as I have personally witnessed, is rampant on the border with Mexico and controls the trafficking of migrants,” the cardinal remarked. “People are fleeing the country, but this would be alleviated if the situation improved. At the moment we are sustained by remittances from abroad, sent by emigrants in the US. The new president will not be able to work miracles, we will only be able to move forward with small successes, and Arévalo seems to be aware of this”.
These are clearly not ‘partisan’ positions. Moreover, all the international organisations have spoken out in defence of the Guatemalan electorate’s choice: the UN and the Organisation of American States, the European Union and the US State Department, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has denounced “the abuse of power by the judges.” Even 28 former presidents of Spain and conservative Latin American countries have called for Arévalo’s legitimate win to be respected. “I personally met with the EU delegation, and in the US I had talks with State Department officials. These are important positions, but
I am now hoping that more pressure will come in, especially from the financial and business sectors.
I think that is the way forward at the international level.”
(*) journalist at “La vita del popolo”
