Guatemala.- A group of students from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (public and autonomous) blocked on Tuesday the passage of vehicles on an avenue south of the capital of the country, near the hotel where the president-elect, Alejandro Giammattei, meets, hours before his inauguration. The so-called “sancarlistas” ensured the media that they were demonstrating on the site “tired of so much injustice and impunity”, against “continuing with an imposition government”, as they call Giammattei’s appointment because, they claim, it was “imposed as a result of electoral fraud”.
One of the protesters, who claimed to be “sancarlist” but asked to reserve his name for safety, detailed that the transition of command by the current command, Jimmy Morales, to former director of the Penitentiary System Alejandro Giammattei “is (actually) a dictatorship” with “military cut”, which is “disguised as a so-called democracy”. The students arrived in the morning to cross two buses on Reforma Avenue, one of the main ones of the city, which goes from the center to the south and passes through the hotel area, however, after a few hours of permanence and protest, when a contingent of police arrived to guard the area, they withdrew from the site.” We have rights that are constitutional that they do not respect, such as the right to health. There are many cases that clearly tell us about fraud and impunity,” said the student, who had her face covered so as not to be identified.
Students said they were manifesting “tired of so much injustice and impunity.” / EFE.
He described the demonstration as “a picket, which is a concrete action, not permanent, but a moment”, in order to “express what we feel and think, because it is necessary to do so in a postwar Guatemala”. Guatemala experienced 36 years of intense armed conflict between 1960 and 1996, which concluded with the signing of the peace between the guerrillas and the Army and left a total of 200,000 victims and more than 45,000 missing, mostly attributed to the armed forces and paramilitary groups. At one of his first meetings on Tuesday, still president-elect, Giammattei held a bilateral meeting with U.S. Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross, at which they addressed investment and migration issues. According to the elected representative, the conversation with Ross discussed the attraction “of investment to the country to stimulate Guatemala’s economic growth, helping to curb migration,” he said on his social media. Giammattei, 63 years old and retired physician and surgeon, will on Tuesday swore the position for the next four years, until January 14, 2024.La command change ceremony will be held on Tuesday, January 14 at 14.00 local time (20.00 GMT) at the Miguel Angel Asturias National Theatre.
Giammattei. / EFE.
According to local and international media, the aircraft in which Ross originally traveled to Guatemala suffered mechanical damage in the United States, so he had to change aircraft in Maryland,the United States and Guatemala signed an agreement – not yet fully known – last July that made the Central American nation a “third safe country,” a figure whereby the U.S. is authorized to send Salvadoran and Honduran migrants deported to Guatemala.
