Protests in Guatemala: Police Arrest 37 Protesters, Dozens Wounded

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Minister of the Interior described the protesters as “terrorists” and backed the action of the security forces, which launched tear gas. A citizen lost an eye and another suffered a brain hemorrhage.

The intense protests on Saturday, November 21st, in Guatemala resulted in almost 40 arrests after police forces suppressed them, leaving dozens of people wounded, one of whom seriously injured, amid a political crisis triggered by the budget’s approval in Congress.

Minister of the Interior Gendri Reyes reported that 37 people were arrested during the riots, in which a group of demonstrators stormed the Legislative Palace and set fire to part of the building. Reyes described the protesters as “terrorists” and backed the police action, despite making no reference to the tear gas launched by the officers.

For its part, the Human Rights Advocates Protection Unit reported 42 detentions. “A Prosecutor’s Office source assures us that there is a top level order to charge the detainees with more serious crimes. They have instructed not to provide alternative measures. They are trying to charge all of them with an attack, despite the fact that they were unable to identify the people who entered Congress,” denounced journalist Francelia Solano.

“I was walking and they grabbed me. I didn’t do anything, I have my constitutional right to protest,” claimed a demonstrator.

As for the wounded, rescue teams reported that at least half a dozen people were treated for injuries, in addition to dozens affected by tear gas, and no deaths were recorded in the incidents, although the information released by the authorities is still preliminary. According to the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office, one of the injured lost an eye and another was undergoing head surgery for a brain hemorrhage and to attempt to save an eye.

The incidents were reported as part of a massive call to protest on Saturday against Giammattei and the Guatemalan Congress after last Wednesday’s approval of the 2021 state budget.

This budget has been described as “obscure” by experts after being approved at dawn, without the 160 deputies having access to it and with extensive cuts on health and human rights issues.

The protest was called for a couple of hours after 12 noon outside the National Palace of Culture, the government’s seat located in downtown Guatemala City.

However, minutes earlier, approximately one kilometer away, hundreds of hooded men stormed the Parliament building and set fire to several offices until they were removed by security forces and firefighters, who extinguished the fire.

The protesters broke the entrance door to Parliament and also the windows, hurling torches inside and storming in to destroy the premises. Many removed property from the building and some even displayed alcoholic beverages that were stored within the Chamber.

Deputies were not in Congress at the time and the authorities have not yet reported specific details on the damage caused by both the fire and the protesters.

In parallel, the main protest with 10,000 people voiced their opposition to Giammattei outside the National Palace of Culture, but after several hours it was dispersed with tear gas by the National Civil Police.

“We are tired of corruption. We can’t take this any longer,” one of the protesters, Luisa Rivera, told Efe. She came to the center of Guatemala City in search of “change”.

The protest was peaceful and uneventful at first, but in the late afternoon it was dispersed by tear gas launched by the National Civil Police.

On Friday night, after Giammattei again validated the budget, his vice-president Guillermo Castillo assured in a press conference that the country is not “well” and urged Giammattei to resign jointly with him to “oxygenate” the Central American nation.

The Congress, in its majority made up of the government and allied parties, last week passed a budget of almost US$12.8 billion, 25% higher than this year’s.

The majority of funds are directed to infrastructure projects with the private sector and does not provide for increases in health or education, nor in spending to fight poverty and child malnutrition.

Some 59.3% of Guatemala’s population of almost 17 million people live in poverty and child malnutrition affects almost 50% of children under five.

Source: infobae