Guatemala AG Refuses To Resign After Campaign Against New President

Guatemala City, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2024) Guatemala's attorney general, accused by new President Bernardo Arevalo of involvement in a plot to undo his election, snubbed a meeting with the head of state Wednesday and said she refused to resign.

Consuelo Porras along with senior prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and Judge Fredy Orellana were at the forefront of judicial efforts to stop reformist Arevalo from taking office.

All three are listed as corrupt and undemocratic by the US government, and Arevalo had said one of his first actions as president would be to ask Porras to resign.

Former lawmaker, diplomat and sociologist Arevalo, 65, pulled off a major upset when he swept from obscurity to win elections last August, firing up voters weary of graft in one of Latin America's poorest nations.

His anti-corruption crusade put him in the crosshairs of prosecutors accused of graft and closely aligned with the country's entrenched political and economic ruling class.

They tried to overturn the election results and strip Arevalo, who enjoys strong support from the international community, of immunity from prosecution.

His Semilla (Seed) party also had its registration suspended on fraud allegations widely seen as trumped up.