The President of the Republic, Bernardo Arévalo, together with his government cabinet, Vice President Karin Herrera, and ancestral indigenous authorities of Guatemala provided a press conference in relation to the capture of two former director of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán.
At the conference at the National Palace on Tuesday, April 29, Arévalo indicated that they are united to claim a democratic construction.
“The criminalization of Luis Pacheco and Héctor and Héctor Chaclán, the criminalization of indigenous authorities and the criminalization of anyone who defends democracy, human rights and fighting corruption, is an attack on all the peoples of the country, to the four peoples of Guatemala,” said Arévalo.
In addition, he pointed out criminalization against judges, probos prosecutors and independent journalists.
He affirmed that these attacks are added to acts of harassment to members of the Government Cabinet while “we find how serious cases of corruption and very serious cases committed by organized crime are in total impunity, cases that have really touched the health, education, well -being and social development of the people of Guatemala”.
“To the people worthy of Guatemala we tell him, we are closing ranks against the co -optation of justice institutions by the actors of impunity, it is time to make their voice listen to the abusive use of justice institutions as weapons to attack those who build democracy and seek development for all,” according to Arévalo
He added: “Therefore, given the current aggression that is carried out from the Public Ministry against the original peoples and the defense of democracy, we first announced that from the Presidential Commission against Discrimination and Racism and in coordination with the ancestral indigenous authorities, the civil society organizations, representatives of the academy, of the religious sector and representatives of international organizations presented an action of Public Ministry ”.
He said that this action seeks to guarantee the due process of the leadership of indigenous peoples “now spuriously criminalized.”
The amparo was filed before the Supreme Court of Justice.
President Arévalo said that he will not act outside the framework of the law nor will the constitutional order on the situation of the Attorney General, Consuelo Porras, be broken.
On April 23, Luis Pacheco, former president of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán, was captured, said the Public Ministry. That day also captured Héctor Manuel Chaclán Batz.
Pacheco, who led protests against the Attorney General Consuelo Porras in 2023, was appointed Vice Minister on August 22, 2024.
On April 25, Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán, former members of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán, were linked to terrorism and hindering the criminal action derived from the demonstrations of 2023 in Guatemala.