Former heads of state and heads of government participating in the Democracy Initiative of Spain and the United States (IDEA) spoke this Sunday, July 16, through a report on the “serious” political situation Guatemala faces after the 2023 general elections.
They see with concern the suspension of the legal personality of the SEED movement to stop candidate Bernardo Arevalo from participating in the August 20 ballot, which was later corrected by the Constitutional Court (CC) by suspending the judicial order. That paralyzed the party.
The document is supported by 23 former heads of state and heads of state from Spain, Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colombia, Paraguay, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia.
These include the names of Alvaro Uribe and Ivan Duque from Colombia, Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox from Mexico, Jose Maria Aznar from Spain, Mauricio Macri from Argentina, and other former government officials.
They also point to an attempt to ban political participation in Venezuela by administratively disqualifying María Corina Machado. Also, the Minister of Justice in Argentina decided to intervene in the Institute for Strategic Security Studies (IEES) under the direction of opposition presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich, with the aim of stopping them from exercising their political rights.
Given these facts, they are “compelled to denounce and publicly assert what is the peaceful doctrine of the Inter-American Human Rights System and the express provisions of the United States Democratic Charter,” they state in the document. Access to and exercise of power must conform to the constitution and the rule of law; It prohibits any direct or indirect fraud or deviation in the application of the law and mediates the free exercise of popular sovereignty,” the statement said.
In addition, they call on the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to act in accordance with the laws governing them.
