Guatemalan Judge Fredy Orellana issued a judicial order on Thursday, November 28, demanding the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) cancel the Semilla Movement, a progressive political party that triumphed in the elections of June 25, 2023, and won the presidency of the Central American country with the candidacy of Bernardo Arévalo.
In 2023, the Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an exhaustive investigation to determine alleged irregularities in the formation of Semilla. Rafael Curruchice, head of Guatemala’s Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), accused Arévalo of having illegally adhered 5,000 people to his political party Semilla, in response to which the prosecutor ordered the search of Semilla’s headquarters and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on two occasions. Given this, FECI tried to suspend Semilla’s legal status, which it did precisely when Arévalo triumphed in the presidential elections. The President-elect then affirmed that it was an attempted coup d’état to prevent him from taking office in January 2024.
Read: President-elect of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, warns that “coup d’état” is underway
For now, the Prosecutor’s Office and Attorney General which have been set on undermining Semilla and Arévalo, have achieved an important victory against the party with its cancellation, which implies taking away its legal status. Curruchiche, the prosecutor in the case, told the press “The cancellation of the legal status of the political party Movimiento Semilla was requested…, with the integration of the norms, the cancellation was given.” Despite this, it has not been said exactly what are the grounds for the cancellation of Semilla. However, it is known that Judge Orellana based his decision on the statement of Ligia Hernandez and other persons who allegedly accepted that the party committed crimes such as unregistered electoral financing, electoral control of funds, influence peddling, and breach of duties.
The political party Semilla responds
For their part, members of Semilla have responded that the judicial decision is part of political persecution through judicial means (lawfare). For this reason, they have filed a writ of amparo to reverse the judicial decision.
Congressman Samuel Perez, who has described the resolution as political persecution, published in his X account “We have just filed an amparo action before the Constitutional Court so that neither the Congress nor the TSE Registry will be forced to obey an ILLEGAL, ridiculous and improper resolution by Freddy Orellana.” In the document filed, the members of the Semilla party request that “any action or resolution issued to definitively cancel the legal personality of the party be left without effect”.
For now, the Semilla party hopes to win this legal battle and revert Orellana’s decision, just as they previously managed to revert a suspension of their organization in July 2023, just one month before Arévalo assumed the presidency of the Republic.
Progressives under attack
Despite having defeated the right-wing in historic elections in August, the latest attack against Semilla shows that the right-wing still has power to attack progressives in the country, especially through the Prosecutor’s Office, which has demonstrated a clear hostile attitude towards anyone who decides to confront the most recalcitrant powers in Guatemala.
Read: Even as president, Guatemala’s new leader continues to face attacks from Attorney General
One of the most renowned cases is that of journalist José Rubén Zamora, who a few days ago was imprisoned again under pressure from the Attorney General’s Office led by Porras. Zamora, a well-known journalist and former editor of El Periódico, published a series of reports revealing the corruption and bribery of former president Giammattei, who placed Porras in the position of Attorney General of the country. Following the publication of the reports, the FECI accused Zamora of money laundering to finance his media outlet and requested he receive a prison sentence of 40 years. Many have seen in the persecution of Zamora a clear intention to silence all those who try to question the status quo in the country.
