GUATEMALA’s president-elect Bernardo Arevalo led an anti-corruption protest of thousands of people in the capital yesterday that also called for the ousting of the attorney-general investigating him.

Arevalo, a 65-year-old political outsider and anti-corruption crusader, scored a shock upset win at polls in August and is due to assume office on January 14.

His triumph and his pledge to fight graft are widely seen in Guatemala as alarming to the establishment political elite.

Since the election, he has faced an onslaught of legal challenges, including attempts to suspend his political party and stop him from assuming power.

Arevalo has asked the courts to fire Attorney-General Consuelo Porras, accusing her of plotting to keep him out of office.

“Today we march in unity for this country that will flourish in spite of the corrupt,” he said at the so-called “March for Democracy” in Guatemala City yesterday.

As they passed the Congress, the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court, protesters chanted “out with the corrupt!”.

They carried banners reading “Out with the corrupt rats” and “No to the coup, let democracy be respected”. Many waved the blue-and-white Guatemalan flag.

The United States, European Union, United Nations and Organization of American States have all expressed concern over the actions of Porras, who is on a US list of “corrupt actors” along with other top Guatemalan officials. – AFP, December 8, 2023.