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Some of my people broke into the Guatemalan Congress this Saturday and burned part of its facilities amid protests against President Alejandro Giammattei and the Legislative Power for the approval of a general budget of the nation for next year, which reduced funds for the education, health and the fight for human rights.
The acts of violence took place at a time when around 7,000 people were demonstrating in front of the National Palace as part of a protest called in advance and in which Guatemalans also repudiated corruption.
“We are outraged by the poverty, the injustice, how the people’s money has been stolen,” said Rosa de Chavarría, a psychology professor at the public university of San Marcos in Guatemala.
Firefighters said a significant part of Congress headquarters was consumed by fire, specifically the section where the bills enter.
According to media reports, there were several injured and poisoned by the tear gas fired by the police and the smoke from the flames inside the legislative building. Firefighters attended to those affected.
The protest was also directed against the Supreme Court of Justice for processing the withdrawal of immunity to constitutional magistrates, who with their rulings have stopped several attempts by politicians to stop the fight against corruption and impunity. Also against the attorney general Consuelo Porras for having requested the withdrawal of immunity from the constitutional magistrates and their lack of action in criminal prosecution in some corruption issues, according to critics.
AP Budget approved at dawn
What filled the patience of the Guatemalan citizens was the handling that was given to the budget discussion in Congress, which ended up approving about $ 12.7 billion early Wednesday morning while the population slept.
The budget approved by 116 of 160 deputies in Congress, among pro-government deputies and allies, reduced money on issues for primary care for COVID-19 patients, education, the fight for human rights, attention to nutrition, among others. In contrast, it strengthened ministries such as Infrastructure and Housing that in previous governments have been the spoils of corruption.
“I feel that the future is being stolen from us, we do not see changes, this cannot continue like this,” said Mauricio Ramírez, a 20-year-old university student.
Although the protest is called for 2 in the afternoon, hundreds of people began their demonstrations in the morning.
On Saturday, hundreds of people in various departments of the country, with banners and banners, demanded a veto of the budget, transparency in public spending and control of the deputies, several of them accused of acts of corruption.
In social networks, several photographs show Guatemalans in Argentina or Germany in front of the diplomatic headquarters of Guatemala in those countries joining the protest.
A married couple who were married a few minutes before in the metropolitan cathedral, which is located in front of the Plaza de la Constitución – place that will center the largest protest in the Guatemalan capital – took pictures of themselves dressed as a bride, in front of a police cordon that protects the National Palace.
“We got married here, we already had a date, we didn’t know there was going to be a demonstration, and then since we don’t agree with what is happening in Congress and with the government, we decided to come and take some photos here,” he told reporters. newly married, who only identified himself as Fernando.
In 2015 various sectors of Guatemalan society took to the streets peacefully in rejection of allegations of corruption in the government of General Otto Pérez Molina. The protests led to the resignation of Pérez Molina, his vice president Roxana Baldetti and members of his cabinet. Both the ex-president and Baldetti are in jail awaiting trials for several corruption cases.
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