Central America

Justice moves forward in cases against Guatemala’s president-elect

Photo: EFE

December 13 |

Both the Attorney General’s Office and a Guatemalan court judge advanced, by different paths, in separate investigations against the president-elect of that Central American country, Bernardo Arévalo.

The Attorney General’s Office delivered this Monday to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) a report of the investigation on alleged anomalies for which it considers “null” the elections won by Arevalo last summer.

This followed Friday’s announcement by the Attorney General’s Office when it said it had detected irregularities in the vote count of the first round of June elections, although the president of the TSE, Blanca Alfaro, qualified that same day that the results of the elections “are unalterable” and that Arevalo must assume power on January 14.

But, the day before, “the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity sent to the Magistrate President of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the criminal investigation developed by the Prosecutor’s Office, so that after the analysis, they can adopt the decision they consider convenient”, it was reported.

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According to the Prosecutor’s Office, there were a series of anomalies in the final minutes of the closing of the scrutiny in the elections of president, vice-president, deputies, corporations and deputies to the Central American Parliament.

Meanwhile, a judge sentenced this Monday an electoral official to two and a half years in prison for the alleged case of false signatures used for the creation of the Semilla Movement, Arévalo de León’s party.

According to several experts and Arévalo de León himself, this case of the alleged false signatures is part of the attempts of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Fiscalía) to prevent the president-elect from taking office on January 14.

The sentence, ordered by criminal judge Fredy Orellana, was against an unidentified official of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, informed a statement from the Attorney General’s Office: the “sentenced person accepted his responsibility in the commission of the crimes”, and the sentence given is two years and six months in prison, said the Public Prosecutor’s Office, although in Guatemala prison sentences may be commutable if they are less than five years.

Arévalo de León, who enjoys immunity both for his current position as congressman and for the presidential election he won, is accused in the same case being handled by Judge Orellana.

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Last September 1, Arévalo de León warned that the attorney general and head of the Public Ministry, Consuelo Porras Argueta, is carrying out a “coup d’état” against him in order to prevent his investiture in January.

Related Topics:Bernardo Arévalo Central America Guatemala

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Colombian Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo and current ambassador to the Vatican Iván Velásquez were both members of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, a UN-backed body created to investigate corruption networks within the Guatemalan state between 2007 and 2019.

Investigations led by the CICIG resulted in the imprisonment of high-ranking officials. According to international organizations, the arrest warrants issued against Camargo and Velásquez were seen as retaliation for their anti-corruption work.

In mid-2025, an appeals court in Guatemala ordered their detention after prosecutors accused them of obstruction of justice and influence peddling, among other charges. The ruling alleged that they had favored business figures linked to Odebrecht who were under investigation.

However, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court later ruled that the lower court had “overstepped its authority” by issuing the arrest warrants illegally, according to local media reports.

Camargo and Velásquez had immunity due to their roles within a United Nations-backed entity.

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“A month before the end of the term of the corrupt attorney general, Consuelo Porras, it seems the situation is beginning to change in Guatemala,” Velásquez wrote on social media.

Porras—sanctioned by the United States Government and the European Union over allegations of corruption and anti-democratic actions—is set to leave office on May 16 unless she is reappointed by President Bernardo Arévalo, with whom she has been at odds after attempting to block his inauguration two years ago.

The CICIG was unilaterally dissolved by former Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales (2016–2020).

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