Part of Congress burned during protest in Guatemala
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| Part of Congress burned during protest in Guatemala |
The peaceful protests against President Alejandro Giammattei and the Legislative Branch for the approval of a general budget of the nation for next year that reduces funds for education, health and the fight for human rights were dissolved with tear gas by the Guatemalan police then that a group set fire to part of Congress.
Some 1,000 people stormed around the Guatemalan Congress on Saturday, clashed with the police and set fire to part of its facilities. Photographs disseminated on social networks showed that congress personnel had placed fire extinguishers and blue barrels right where the compound was burned, which had no police protection before the fire.
The acts of violence took place at a time when around 10,000 people were demonstrating in front of the National Palace as part of a protest called in advance and in which Guatemalans also condemned corruption.
“We are outraged by the poverty, the injustice, how the people's money has been stolen,” said Rosa de ChavarrÃa, a psychology professor at the public university of San Marcos in Guatemala.
Firefighters indicated that a significant area of Congress headquarters was consumed by fire, specifically the section where the bills enter.
Several injured and poisoned by the tear gas fired by the police and the smoke from the flames inside the legislative building were treated by firefighters. In the Plaza de la Constitución, two blocks from the hemicycle, the police also broke up with tear gas a peaceful protest in which boys, girls, the elderly and people with pets participated. Several protesters burned down at least one bus station.
The police repression also reached protests in several departments, such as Huehuetenango and Quetzaltenango, in the west of the country, where the police fired tear gas at the protesters.
T
he Human Rights Ombudsman pointed out that 12 people were treated at the San Juan de Dios Hospital for minor injuries and poisoning. Videos posted by netizens on social media showed police dragging and beating two female protesters.
Discontent is also directed at the Supreme Court of Justice for processing the withdrawal of immunity to constitutional magistrates, who with their rulings have stopped several attempts by politicians to stop the fight against corruption and impunity. Also against the attorney general Consuelo Porras for having requested the withdrawal of immunity from the constitutional magistrates and their lack of action in criminal prosecution in some corruption issues, according to critics.
What filled the patience of the Guatemalan citizens was the handling that was given to the budget discussion in Congress, which ended up approving some 12.7 billion dollars early Wednesday morning while the population slept.
The budget approved by 116 of 160 deputies in Congress, among pro-government deputies and allies, reduced money on issues for primary care for COVID-19 patients, education, the fight for human rights, attention to nutrition, among others. In contrast, it strengthened ministries like Infrastructure and Housing that in previous governments have been the spoils of corruption.
Although the protest is called for 2 in the afternoon, hundreds of people began their demonstrations in the morning.
On Saturday, hundreds of people in various departments of the country, with banners and banners, demanded a veto of the budget, transparency in public spending and control of the deputies, several of them accused of acts of corruption.
In social networks, several photographs show Guatemalans in Argentina, France, Switzerland and Germany in front of the diplomatic headquarters of Guatemala in those countries joining the protest.
A married couple who were married a few minutes before in the metropolitan cathedral, which is located in front of the Plaza de la Constitución - place that will center the largest protest in the Guatemalan capital - took pictures of themselves dressed as a bride, in front of a police cordon that protects the National Palace.
"We got married here, we already had a date, we didn't know there was going to be a demonstration, and then since we don't agree with what is happening in Congress and with the government, we decided to come and take some photos here," he told reporters. newly married, who only identified himself as Fernando.
In 2015 various sectors of Guatemalan society took to the streets peacefully in rejection of allegations of corruption in the government of General Otto Pérez Molina. The protests led to the resignation of Pérez Molina, his vice president Roxana Baldetti and members of his cabinet. Both the ex-president and Baldetti are in prison awaiting trials for various corruption cases.
