On Friday, the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor’s Office executed a “coup attempt” to prevent Bernardo Arévalo from taking office on January 14. This has been stated by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Guatemalan prosecutor, Rafael Curruchiche, has proposed that the elections won by Arévalo should be qualified as “null and void” for “irregularities in the proceedings”. It emphasizes that there are records removed and minutes without signature of the Information Committee of Votes. Prosecutor Leonor Morales adds that the formats used were not approved by the plenary of magistrates.

But the judge of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Blanca Alfaro, said that the elections will never be repeated: “The results are validated, formalized and invariable.” He adds that if the elected authorities do not take office, it would be “to violate the Constitution”.

Arévalo stressed that the votes of 25 June and 20 August were carried out “legitimately”, so seeking to annul the result is “to mock the citizens who have supervised the electoral process and their right to decide”.