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Medical students and doctors are asking the Attorney General to take action so that Guatemalan citizens can vote in the second round. “We cannot be calm when they threaten to take away our hope, they have already taken away our health, education, security… we have hope and hope that we will reach the second round,” they told PDH.
Regina Perez
Students from the Faculty of Medicine and other schools and faculties of the University of San Carlos, as well as doctors from the General Hospital of San Juan de Dios, joined the national strike organized by various sectors on Monday and demanded from the Ombudsman for Human Rights (PDH), José Alejandro Córdoba, his silence and passivity before the judicial acceptance of the electoral process by the state ministry.
The march began at Paraninfo University, with students and professionals heading to the PDH headquarters, where they asked Cordova to attend. “Show face, we are exercising our right to freedom of speech, and today the one who should protect our rights is hiding because he knows that the only ones who are useful are the corrupt,” one of the students told him. A few minutes later, the Attorney General agreed to receive a delegation of two students and two doctors.
Vivian Ponce, president of the Medical Students Association, expressed her concern to Córdoba about the remote role that the institution is playing in the national crisis. “Today we join the protest of the people of Guatemala who see how the organizations of our country exceed their functions, and we would like to put this situation on the table and announce that we expect the fulfillment of those obligations that correspond to them, not only to you as a prosecutor, but to your entire field of activity.”
#National strike24J ✊🏽 “We are watching with great concern the distant role that the Prosecutor General’s Office has assumed”
👉🏽 At a medical union meeting with Alejandro Cordova, a student says that PDH has not protected and enforced the rights that have been violated in recent weeks; He… pic.twitter.com/KHPsBdrzHE
— Km169 Community Press (@PrensaComunitar) July 24, 2023
Ponce cited the recent actions of the Ministry of Public Administration (MP) and Judge Fredi Orellana who attacked the Movimiento Semilla party with arrest warrants and searches of its headquarters and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
For his part, Napoleon Méndez, head of the emergency department at the San Juan de Dios General Hospital, told Córdoba: “We represent many people here because we want free and non-politicized elections, we are very concerned about how the apparatuses in charge of justice on behalf of the judiciary and the deputy handle the legal processing of the elections.”
Mendez added that the PDH attested to the absence of fraud and that if there was any anomaly, the institution would have pointed it out. “Yes, I ask you to be on one side, I don’t know if there are three, five or seven, but we ask you to be on the side of the people, the people have already made a free choice in the elections, and we are in the second round, we want the second round to take place, not be prosecuted, we are in a very dangerous transition period in which they want to steal the hope of the people,” he said.
#National strike24J @NapolenMndez1 San Juan de Dios hospital emergency room chief asks PDH José Córdoba to “be on the side of the people, the people have already made a free choice.” This is due to the fact that Cordova did not make a decision on the legal execution of the process by the MP and OJ.
🎥 @_Rahina_ pic.twitter.com/VAi1ivLyLN
— Km169 Community Press (@PrensaComunitar) July 24, 2023
The delegation’s specific request was that Córdoba demonstrate through the amparo to defend the will of the voters in the first round. However, the judge of conscience indicated that he was unable to do so and listed a number of actions that he believed the PDP had taken during the electoral process, such as the deployment of observers.
“We called for calm, we called for calm, for peace, we called for constitutional respect for all state institutions, this call was made by the Attorney General in various statements,” he said.
According to Cordova, PDH can’t be a party when actions are prosecuted, “but we can go and watch to make sure there’s no breach of due process.”
Considering this, Mendez responded: “We want PDH to take legal action but don’t ask us to calm down, we can’t be calm when they threaten to take away our hope, they have already taken our health, education, security … we have hope and we hope we get to the second round, we ask that the PDH come up with a lawsuit that will protect us, we want our voting rights in the second round to be guaranteed.”
#National strike24J 👁 “We called for calm,” the message says. @PDHgt José Cordoba.
“We need legal action from the PDH,” he replied. @NapolenMndez1
“We are not asked to remain calm when they threaten to rob us of hope,” he added. pic.twitter.com/RTlrmJaKe3
— Km169 Community Press (@PrensaComunitar) July 24, 2023
The delegation left the meeting without a concrete response from the prosecutor on whether he would act with some kind of protection in the Cortes to protect the rights of the population in the second round. Dr. Carlos Chua from the USAC Faculty of Health Sciences also attended this meeting.
Then the march turned to the deputy with slogans against Consuelo Porras and the de facto rector of this educational institution, Valter Mazariegos.
#ParoNacion24J ✊🏽Fernando Villagres, General Secretary of the Association of Students of Communication Sciences, tells us about the success of different schools and departments #USAC which started in #Assembly Hall to the deputy, in support #Paro24J
🎥 @_Rahina_ pic.twitter.com/vOsqso8gfS
— Km169 Community Press (@PrensaComunitar) July 24, 2023
They ask for the resignation of Porras
Since July 12, thousands of citizens have expressed their dissatisfaction in various ways and on various occasions with the lawsuits of the head of parliament, Consuelo Porras, against the Movimiento Semilla party, which unexpectedly advanced to the second round. That is why they are demanding her resignation from the position to which she was appointed by President Alejandro Giammattei.
Allan Ramirez, a citizen who has come to protest in front of the MP several times, said his presence means demanding the resignation of “that group of criminals who hide behind the rules they invent, the laws they manipulate to weaken our society, and to be here so they know they can’t do it with impunity.”
Ramirez said that they would demand that the Constitution be respected and that they would not be able to intimidate either the citizens or the Semilla party or any other person who fights for the rule of law in Guatemala.”
The prosecutor was responsible for inaction in a crisis
On Sunday, July 23, demonstrators protested outside the PDH office. “This thief stays in flight mode” was the prosecutor’s slogan regarding Córdoba’s inaction as it failed to rule on the lawsuits that jeopardized the runoff.
When asked about this interrogation, the judge of conscience limited himself to saying: “I am not going to do what the law does not allow me … I know the law, it’s not for nothing that I have experience, I come from a justice of the peace and I know how long the scope of the prosecutor’s powers is, and I respect my functions, how much the Constitution gives me powers, I believe that we are not all experts.”
#National strike24J ✊🏽 “I am an expert on the law and I know how far the prosecutor’s reach is,” PDH José Alejandro Córdoba responds to a question about public criticism when he says he is in flight mode. His answer 👇🏽
🎥 @_Rahina_ pic.twitter.com/g9m0Ja7iRS
— Km169 Community Press (@PrensaComunitar) July 24, 2023
