indigenous

The aroma of coffee wafts out from a communal kitchen tent at a Guatemala City protest encampment where people are counting down the days until the inauguration of the country’s next government. For months, leaders from autonomous Indigenous governance structures have spearheaded a movement to defend democracy by ensuring the transition happens, and they have maintained the protest camp outside the public prosecutors’ office around the clock for more than 100 days.

Miguel Ángel Alvarado, the Indigenous Maya Achi mayor of Rabinal, has repeatedly traveled the 55 miles south to the capital to participate in protests. “We are defending our vote. We are defending the little democracy left in our country,” he tells Truthout. “We are here, the various Maya, Garifuna, Xinka and non-Indigenous peoples from around the country are here, demonstrating peacefully.”

Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo, a progressive congressman and sociologist, is set to take office on January 14, but his inauguration was never a given. Political and judicial backlash to his victory was swift and sustained, essentially amounting to a slow-burn coup attempt. Grassroots protests and international pressure have also had staying power and have evolved over several months, working to rein in efforts to prevent Arévalo from taking office.

Arévalo’s party, Movimiento Semilla, grew out of mass anti-corruption protests in 2015. Combating corruption is a cornerstone of Arévalo’s plans for government. His victory presented a threat to Guatemala’s “pact of the corrupt,” an informal coalition of parties and interests that has been consolidating power across all three branches of government in recent years.

read more: https://truthout.org/articles/indigenous-leaders-in-guatemala-are-camping-out-to-prevent-post-election-coup/