President Bernardo Arévalo participated this Saturday, July 5 in the presentation of a book about the struggle for democracy in Guatemala and questioned the role of the Public Ministry (MP), which he pointed out of trying to reverse the electoral results of 2023. However, he was brief when referring to the investigation for the purchase of weapons in the Ministry of the Interior.
During his speech, Arévalo said that the 18 months at the head of the Government have not been easy, since his administration has faced “spurious” judicial processes promoted by the MP, an institution that, he said, is co -opted by corruption and promised to reform with the change of attorney general in May 2026.
“The eighteen months of my government have been the scene of judicial attempts to create conditions that carry out that coup d’etat in slow chamber (…) that are carried out through the criminalization of justice operators, social leaders, members of my administration, journalists, activists of the seed movement and human rights defenders,” said Arévalo.
The president said that, as a consequence of these persecutions, many Guatemalans who “defend democracy” are in exile. In addition, in reference to the constitutional mandate of the Attorney General, he warned that time is finished to those who, in their opinion, act with impunity from co -opted institutions, from where they promote a climate of anxiety through threats and insults.
“Its failure in ensuring that some of these spurious actions generates a political crisis that causes the fall of the Government evidences its limitations. In the last 18 months we have seen how attempts to perpetuate the corrupt co -optation of the institutions lose strength. Its candidates for magistrates in the Supreme Court, to preside over the Bar Association or to occupy university spaces that participate in processes of election have failed.
And he concluded: “More and more are an isolated and rejected force, and they have less than a year to continue operating with the impunity that gives them control of the Public Ministry. Clear, cornered are dangerous, they vocife and threaten how little they have left. Their actions become increasing The Republic – will designate a dignified and honest person to direct the Public Ministry and rebuild an institution razed by corruption ”.
Purchase of weapons
At the end of his participation in the presentation of the book, Arévalo was consulted on an MP investigation for the purchase of 10 thousand weapons for Q84 million, awarded by the Ministry of the Interior to A company linked to relatives of the Minister of Culture and Sports, Liwy Grazioso Sierra.
“The CGC already gave the recommendation that this is not going to proceed and the Minister of the Interior will continue to expand it according to our needs,” Arévalo replied.
When asked if he did not consider that it was a case of corruption, the president moved away from the journalist who covered the event.
The interior portfolio, directed by Minister Francisco Jiménez, awarded the world company a contract for Q84 million for the acquisition of weapons. This company has as legal representatives Óscar Francisco and Renzo Ricardo, both surnames Grazioso Sierra, brothers of the Minister of Culture and Sports.
According to the Guatecompras portal, both appear as legal representatives of the company benefiting from the contract.
The investigation for this bidding process is in charge of two prosecutors, according to the MP Communication Unit: one is the Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime and the other, the Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption.
The book
The former Dominican Diplomatic Josué Fiallo presented this Saturday in Guatemala a book about his experience in the Organization of American States (OAS) during the MP attempts to reverse the results of the presidential elections of 2023.
The presentation was made within the framework of the Guatemala Book Fair.
In these elections, the Prosecutor’s Office – whose dome is sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for multiple accusations of corruption – tried unsuccessfully to reverse the results that led Arévalo de León to the Presidency.
“This is not a fiction book or an academic thesis: it is first and foremost a personal chronicle and a historical testimony written from the conviction that experiences must be preserved for collective learning,” said Fiallo during the presentation.
“The Guatemalan people showed the world that democracy has defenders when they are most needed,” added Fiallo, who in 2023 was a representative of the Dominican Republic against the OAS.
The book, entitled Crisis diplomacy: Guatemala, OAS and democratic hope in 2023recounts the events of that year around the elections in Guatemala and the role of the regional entity in the defense of the results, despite the attempts of the Prosecutor’s Office to prevent Arévalo from assuming the presidency.