In Guatemala, protests continue across the country in support of the elected president, the progressive Bernardo Arévalo, and his political party, the Semilla Movement, while several prosecutors attempt to overturn the results of the second electoral round held in August and to prevent Arévalo from assuming the presidency in January. Protesters demand the resignation of corrupt prosecutors, who enjoy the support of Guatemala’s right-wing economic and political elite and who have launched several investigations against Arévalo and the Semilla Movement over allegations of electoral fraud and registration irregularities of this political party. International observers have said there is no evidence to support the accusations. Earlier this week, Arévalo rallied his supporters outside the country’s Supreme Court of Justice, located in Guatemala City.

President-elect Bernardo Arévalo: “Citizenship is not only exercised every four years at the time of voting. It is exercised when the institutions of democracy ask us to mobilize to defend it. And today, we are here in an act of defense of democracy!

Thousands of indigenous leaders demonstrated in the streets of Guatemala on Tuesday and blocked access to the country’s main highways. Meanwhile, in New York, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warned in his speech to the General Assembly of UN on the possibility of a coup d’état in Guatemala.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: “In Guatemala, there is a risk of a coup d’état which would prevent the inauguration of the winner of the democratic elections.”