Guatemala Elites Flex Muscle, Excluding Leading Presidential Contender
InSight CrimeMay 26, 2023
The Constitutional Court of Guatemala on Friday blocked the presidential candidacy of dark-horse conservative businessman Carlos Pineda, less than a month ahead of the first round of voting.
The Prosperidad Ciudadana nominee condemned the sentence as an attack against democracy, expressing his hopes that the majority of the Guatemalan people would cast a null vote to force new elections.
Guatemala's deep-rooted political elite has been swiftly using its clout over the judicial system to thwart anti-corruption figures, with the outsider candidate Pineda being just the latest, but unlikely the last, to be excluded from the presidential race based on legal shenanigans. It's clear that the establishment would rather bring chaos and instability to the country than allow changes in the status quo.
Guatemala has indeed been heading toward an illiberal democracy as widespread corruption and politicization erode its democratic institutions — including the once technical Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Yet, it is troublesome to claim that Pineda is among the candidates who are allegedly being targeted by the corrupt political elite, given that his party is backed by the sons of the convicted money launder Manuel Baldizón.