The deputies of the new legislature had planned to elect the new president of Congress at noon (18:00 GMT), but at the edge of 3:00 p.m. local time (21:00 GMT), the outgoing Congress had not even certified the 160 new members of Parliament, which has meant that the president’s investiture is still in suspense.
The swearing-in of the new Guatemalan Congress for the period 2024-2028 must be carried out as a prerequisite for the investiture of the president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo de León, a ceremony that is scheduled to be held at the National Theater before a dozen heads of state in attendance. to the Guatemalan capital.
This circumstance circulated fears of an eventual “coup d’état”, as the president-elect himself has been denouncing, accusing the head of the Public Ministry, Consuelo Porras, and “other corrupt actors” of obstructing and preventing his inauguration.
On Saturday, Petro called on all presidents to attend the Arévalo de León ceremony to support him in the face of attempts by the Prosecutor’s Office and other entities to prevent him from being sworn in as the new president, after obtaining the majority in the last elections.
Colombia’s support
“The Prosecutor’s Office, as in Peru, as in Colombia, has had an adverse attitude towards the presidency and has even tried to imprison the vice president elected by the people,” Petro explained.
In addition, the Colombian president also denounced that the Guatemalan authorities have not yet allowed his Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, to enter the country, who served, by mandate of the UN, as head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). .
The tension of this day has been the general tone of an electoral and transition process marked by the attempts since last July by the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office) to outlaw the Semilla Movement party – the main support for the president-elect – and to prevent Arévalo de León from take possession this January 14.