Interview with Guatemala’s VP-elect Karin Herrera
“We’re confused by the outgoing president’s silence”
Karin Herrera, Guatemala’s vice president elect, rejects the Prosecution’s attacks. “The people already chose, they already determined who won. There was no fraud.”
HAVANA TIMES – Numerous countries and international organizations have publicly condemned the attempt by the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office to prevent the upcoming inauguration of president-elect Bernardo Arevalo set for January 14th. However, one particular figure has remained notably silent in the face of this attack against democracy: outgoing president Alejandro Giammattei.
“We’ve felt a little confused at the lack of any forceful statement from him (Giammattei); a direct, conclusive statement about this election, which he knows was clear, transparent and followed all legal procedures,” stated Karin Herrera, Guatemala’s vice president-elect. She made these comments during an appearance on Nicaragua’s internet television news program Esta Noche.
On Friday, December 8th, the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office declared that the August 2023 elections – which Bernardo Arevalo and Karin Herrera won decisively – were not “valid,” due to alleged administrative irregularities of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which already endorsed their victory in accordance with Guatemalan law.
The Prosecutor’s Office now accuses Herrera, a biologist and teacher, of being involved in the 13-month occupation of the University of San Carlos (USAC) [April 2022 to June 2023]. They’ve already issued arrest warrants for another 27 people accused of having a central role in the university conflict. According to local media, the Public Ministry intends to criminally accuse the President-elect and his running mate of depredation of cultural property, illicit association, and influence peddling, based on their supposed participation.
Prosecutor Saul Sanchez accused them of “using the university as a trampoline for their political careers,” accusations that Herrera disputed in our interview.
The Guatemalan Prosecution has criminalized you, President-elect Bernardo Arevalo, and your Movimiento Semilla party, and is trying to annul last August’s elections. What are they accusing you of, and how do you respond to the Attorney General’s allegations?
I’ll speak about my own particular case. I have no specific details. They’ve implicated me in a case that happened at the University of San Carlos, and I’m accused because of the way I expressed myself at that time in the face of an injustice. I expressed myself freely at that time, regarding a process I considered unjust – that my colleagues who’d been elected at Guatemala’s College of Pharmacy and Chemistry were then not allowed to participate in an electoral process.
Does the Attorney General’s Office have the authorization to annul the elections? What do the Electoral Tribunal and the Constitutional Court say?
No, the Attorney General’s Office isn’t authorized to annul the elections.
In Guatemala, that power belongs to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the organism that oversees all the electoral procedures at a national level.
Have the Electoral Tribunal and the Constitutional Court issued a statement regarding the intentions of the Attorney General’s Office to try and annul the elections?
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal has declared the elections concluded, and has validated the results obtained. It declared us the winners of the elections held on August 20 of this year and has reiterated this whenever they’ve been consulted by the media. They reiterated it again recently.
In terms of the Constitutional Court, I imagine it will all depend on the moment when they can familiarize themselves with the legal documents that have been submitted to this organism. We hope they’ll pronounce at an opportune time.
Position of outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei
President Alejandro Giammattei states that he’s keeping his distance from the Attorney General’s actions, but he has neither rejected nor condemned them. How do [you and the president-elect] regard President Giammattei’s posture?
We’ve been very respectful during this transition process. We’ve participated in the events that he’s invited us to within the transition process, and we’ve carried out the process according to the methodology that he proposed. We were expecting some more conclusive statement from him in defense of this electoral process that, in the end, embodies a defense of the country’s democracy. We’ve felt a little confused at the lack of such a statement on his part – a direct, conclusive statement about this election, which he knows was a clear and transparent election that adhered to all the legal procedures.
The protests against this coup is led by the indigenous movements. What’s been the reaction from other sectors of Guatemala, including the business community, other opposition political parties and the Catholic Church?
This has been a moment in which the ancestral authorities have assumed leadership, considering the remnants of democracy we have. I think they see that it’s better to hold on to the fragments of democracy we have than to lose them. Because if we lose them, many more years will pass before we can once again build a democracy. The leadership they’ve exercised has been very important. Bernardo Arevalo, the president-elect, convoked a series of national dialogues, in which he succeeded at bringing different sectors together at the table – among them the business sector.
This is important, because it allows us a closer look at each sector’s perspectives on the same problem. It means going down a road to find those common points of convergence, something that’s fundamental, because – like I said a moment ago – we have only fragments of democracy. We want to build a more solid system, where these fragments of democracy can be united. For that, we need to work shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, with the different sectors of Guatemalan society that share the same values and principles.
OAS resolution
The Organization of American States passed an urgent resolution on the Guatemalan situation, in which they suggest calling for a consultation of foreign ministers and an on-site visit of the Permanent Council. What do you hope for from the OAS member countries and the international community, in the face of this crisis of democracy that Guatemala is confronting?
Their statement can be understood in light of the fact that they’ve been participating as observers in the electoral process, and they saw that it was totally transparent. It was a process in which no fraud was carried out, and they’ve pronounced on this because they were observers. We understand that they’ve gone step by step with their accompaniment and have been expressing themselves about this abuse of power, the persecution against those of us who were elected in that voting process. We know that now a whole new stage is coming, in which we’ll surely receive their visit.
I hope that the authorities in Guatemala respond in accordance with what’s needed at this moment: the defense of democracy; to stand beside the people, because the people already made their choice, already determined who won, and there was no fraud. Knowing how to lose is basic, respecting the participation and continuing to walk together, with our minds focused on the higher good, which is the population’s well-being. We want a population that enjoys a better quality of life.
Will the Vice President-elect be assuming power on January 14th?
Yes, of course. We trust that’s what will happen on January 14, 2024 – that Bernardo Arevalo and Karin Herrera will take leadership of the Executive Branch.
Will it be possible to govern while this coup d’etat is in march in Guatemala?
We trust that those who are executing these actions will come to their senses. It’s essential that they do so, because this is larger than each individual and their particular interests. An entire people is at play in this, a government, the country, and the well-being of the people who inhabit it.