GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – The head of the Organization of American States (OAS) said late on Friday he had accepted an invitation to mediate between Guatemalan officials and street protesters seeking an orderly transfer to power to President-elect Bernardo Arevalo.
In a post on social media, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said he accepted the invitation from Guatemala’s government, posting a letter from the foreign ministry dated Friday that described the invitation as a means to achieve “consensus among different sectors” of the country.
Tens of thousands took to Guatemala’s streets this week, demanding the resignation of powerful senior prosecutors accused of working to undermine Arevalo’s ability to take office.
Arevalo was elected in a landslide in August, but since then Attorney General Consuelo Porras has intensified efforts to disqualify Arevalo’s anti-graft Movimiento Semilla party and ordered raids on the electoral authority’s offices, seizing ballots.
Porras’ office alleges the party’s registration was tainted by illegalities six years ago, but her investigation was only launched after Arevalo’s unexpectedly strong second-place finish in June’s first-round vote.
The attorney general has been accused of corruption by the U.S. government.
On Friday, the protests had spread to more than 60 locations across Central America’s most-populous country, led by indigenous groups, students, teachers and medical workers.
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City; Writing by David Alire Garcia; editing by William Mallard)
