Guatemala president-elect calls for attorney general's resignation
By Sofia Menchu
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) -Guatemalan president-elect Bernardo Arevalo called on Wednesday on the president to seek the resignation of the attorney general, who is investigating Arevalo's party, amid accusations by his supporters that authorities are blocking a transition.
Arevalo accused President Alejandro Giammattei of remaining silent and called on him in a letter to request that Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras step down. The prosecutors' office said she would not do so.
"During this entire process you, Dr Giammattei, have been silent. The people have interpreted your silence as consent to the undermining of our democratic institutions. Your silence is an insult to the Guatemalan people," Arevalo said in the letter.
Giammattei's office did not immediately respond to a late night request for comment but the prosecutors' office defended the investigation by Porras into allegations of electoral irregularities.
"The attorney general will not resign her post. Her actions have always been in strict compliance with the law," a spokesperson for the office told Reuters.
"The prosecutors' office remains firm in its investigations with only one goal: to discover the truth."
Running on an anti-corruption platform, Arevalo won an August election run-off with a 20-point margin of victory.
Tens of thousands of Guatemalans have taken to the streets in recent days to protest against what many have called a slow-motion coup, demanding the resignation of Porras along with other judicial officials involved in her inquiries.
Her office raided Arevalo's Semilla party and the electoral body in what it has called necessary operations for lawful investigations into alleged irregularities during the election, especially claims that Semilla's registration six years ago was tainted by falsified signatures.
Earlier on Wednesday, Guatemala's constitutional court said it had ordered authorities to only use force against the protesters as a "last resort" and called on them to end their blockades.
A day earlier, the head of the Organization of American States (OAS) said the investigation was "shameful" and "unprecedented" attack on Guatemala's democracy.
Arevalo said he was "fully disposed" to attend as a witness government talks with protest leaders that are set to be mediated by the OAS.
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Isabel Woodford, Robert Birsel)
