Guatemala's embattled attorney general says she will not step down

The Guatemala attorney general leading efforts to prosecute President Bernardo Arévalo and his party is refusing to step down

Guatemala Attorney General (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The Guatemala attorney general leading efforts to prosecute President Bernardo Arévalo and his party refused to step down Wednesday ahead of a meeting with the president.

“I am not going to resign,” said Consuelo Porras in a recorded video message released by her office on the same day that Arévalo said he would ask her to step down in a face-to-face meeting.

Porras also threatened to take legal action against anyone who tried to push her out and cited court rulings in arguing that she is also not under any obligation to meet with Arévalo, because her office “is an autonomous and independent institution.”

“You (President Arévalo) as the maximum authority of the nation must respect what the (constitution) and the country’s laws establish,” Porras said in the video.

Porras has faced months of protests demanding her resignation for her office’s interference in last year’s elections. Her office has pursued investigations of Arévalo, his vice president and their party, as well as of electoral officials. Her agents have ordered waves of arrest warrants, raids of the party offices and seizures of electoral records and ballots.

For weeks, Indigenous groups blocked the country’s highways and for even longer have maintained a constant protest outside Porras' office.

The 70-year-old Porras has already been sanctioned by the U.S. government for blocking corruption investigations and undermining democracy.

Arévalo has also planned to ask her for updates on some specific issues, including criminal investigations regarding the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines and alleged cases of bribery in the past administration.

Arévalo’s office said he did not plan to answer Porras publicly.

Since the Attorney General’s office is an autonomous entity, Arévalo can’t remove her. Other options could include reforming the law, but his party lacks a congressional majority to make it happen.

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