Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo is scheduled to be sworn into office Sunday afternoon. But just like almost every day since his resounding Aug. 20 election victory, the inauguration will be tinged with doubts and tensions.

The still-serving Attorney General, Consuelo Porras, has tried every legal trick in the book to put him on trial or in jail before he takes office. And Arévalo’s Seed Movement party will not have a majority in Congress, and may not even have formal recognition there.

GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei on Friday called for roadblocks to be lifted and said he cannot remove the country's attorney general, something demanded by protesters who accuse authorities of blocking the government transition.

Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras, whose office has said she will not step down, has been investigating the party of president-elect Bernardo Arevalo in what he and the Organization of American States have branded an attack on democracy.

GUATEMALA CITY, Sept 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A politician from the party of Guatemala’s president-elect was shot dead on Thursday near the border with Mexico, the party and local media said.

Anibal Ramirez, a former candidate in the western town of San Pedro Necta for president-elect Bernardo Arevalo’s Semilla (Seed) party, was killed in a roadway attack there, according to local media reports.

Ramirez’s wife Mercy Morales, who was with him in a pick-up truck, was also killed in the attack, party leaders confirmed.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Progressive candidate Bernardo Arévalo was confirmed the winner of Guatemala’s presidential election by the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Monday, but the same day another government body ordered his political party suspended.

Arévalo has faced a slew of legal challenges and allegations of irregularities since his unexpected victory over a candidate favored by the country’s conservative elite.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalans overwhelmingly picked an independent progressive to be the country’s next president but his opponent remained silent Monday morning, leaving open the possibility of a challenge to landslide results that resoundingly rejected the country’s elite.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The Guatemalan government’s clumsy interference with its presidential election has turned a global spotlight on a country whose struggles with rampant corruption had received limited international attention.

President Alejandro Giammattei was deeply unpopular at home, but other than occasional statements of reprobation from the United States and Europe, had managed to consolidate his control of the justice system with little consequence.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalans voted Sunday to elect a new president and vice president as well as fill all congressional seats and hundreds of local posts after one of the most tumultuous electoral seasons in the Central American nation’s recent history.

Many Guatemalans expressed disappointment with their presidential choices after three opposition candidates were excluded by authorities. A large number of null ballots were expected, and experts said it could depress turnout.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan police arrested the country’s prosecutor for crimes against migrants Friday, accusing him of alleged abuse of authority.

Stuardo Campos was formerly an anti-corruption prosecutor in the country during the administration of former President Jimmy Morales. It was not immediately clear whether the accusations pertain to his current position or the former.

SAN MARTIN JILOTEPEQUE, Guatemala (AP) — The last Ana Marina López heard of her husband, the 51-year-old Guatemalan migrant told his family that he was being detained by Mexican immigration agents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

That was two days before a fire in an immigration detention center in Ciudad Juárez claimed the lives of at least 39 migrants and left more than two dozen injured.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The director of a Guatemalan investigative newspaper will stand trial on charges of money laundering, influence peddling and blackmail, a judge ruled Thursday.

José Rubén Zamora of El Periodico has been held for four months amid criticism that his arrest was politically motivated by an administration interested in silencing critical journalists.