A deputy minister who led protests against a major public prosecutor in a power battle with Guatemala’s president, Bernardo Arevalo, was detained on Wednesday by police in Guatemala.
Consuelo Porras, the attorney general, is accused of trying to destroy him, according to Arevalo, who is under investigation for fraud by the United States and the European Union.
According to prosecutors official Moises Ortiz, Luis Pacheco, a vice chancellor of power and mine, was detained at the prosecutor general’s office’s plea on suspicion of violence and obstruction of justice. Arevalo referred to the detention as” an action of criminalization” of the quiet presentations.
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” It’s an assault on the resistance conflict waged by the Guatemalan persons in 2023 to stop these political-criminal systems hiding in the open prosecutor’s office from thwarting the popular will,” he continued.
One of the organizations that organized the protests, which saw thousands of Guatemalans march in support of Arevalo and demand Porras ‘ resignation, was led by Pacheco, an indigenous Mayan leader. He was taken to court on Wednesday for a preliminary reading, claiming he was “outraged.”
According to a statement posted on social media platform X, Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Pacheco’s imprisonment was “political oppression” that” may continue to be the tool that limits the country’s political improvement.”
The Guatemalan government’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also issued a statement, calling on the government to ensure that” no man is unlawfully prosecuted for exercising the right to peaceful assembly.”
Arevalo’s anti-corruption campaign helped cover his election in August 2023 but also placed him in the shoes of prosecutors who are also accused of graft. The former senator, diplomat, and sociology has repeatedly called for a” slow-motion coupd’etat” and repeatedly attempted to remove Porras.
