GUATEMALA-CORRUPTION/MARCH Guatemalans take to streets amidst growing impeachment threat for Perez

Record ID: 142358

  • Title: GUATEMALA-CORRUPTION/MARCH Guatemalans take to streets amidst growing impeachment threat for Perez
  • Date: 27th August 2015
  • Summary: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (AUGUST 27, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF GOVERNMENT PALACE VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS WITH PLACARDS AND FLAGS PLACARDS THAT READ "I DON'T HAVE A PRESIDENT, NO ONE REPRESENTS ME" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ARRIVING AT MAIN SQUARE PLACARD THAT READS "I DON'T WANT IMPEACHMENT I WANT PROSECUTION" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, JUAN JOSE TALEMANTES, SAYING: "(President Otto) Perez Molina in jail already, accompanying his fellow thief, Vice President (Roxana) Baldetti. These people are continuing on with a social revolution. Today we have decided enough already, stop Perez Molina, you thief, you should be in jail." GENERAL VIEW OF MAIN SQUARE MORE OF BANNER THAT READS "I DON'T HAVE A PRESIDENT" MORE OF PROTESTERS CARRYING FLAG STUDENTS HANGING UP BANNER WOMEN WITH FLAG GENERAL VIEW OF PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, HEGEL AQUINO, SAYING: "The country is bad. We have seen it, everything that has happened. What we want is his resignation." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GENERAL VIEW OF CONGRESS IN SESSION CONGRESS MEMBERS APPLAUDING GENERAL VIEW OF CONGRESS IN SESSION CONGRESS MEMBER READING DOCUMENT MONITOR IN CONGRESS TALLYING VOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CONGRESS MEMBER FOR THE NATIONAL UNITY OF HOPE PARTY, MARIO TARACENA, SAYING: "Respect the constitution and due process. The president has not resigned, the congress then acts." PROTESTERS IN FRONT OF CONGRESS
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1S0CQ66W5EDULBXAIMGPCW6U9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Protesters converged on Guatemala City's main square on Thursday (August 27) to demand President Otto Perez step down and face justice for his suspected involvement in a racket to siphon customs revenue from the government that could see his impeachment, pending a vote from the country's Congress.
    A number of corruption investigations have devastated Perez's cabinet and led to the resignation in May of Vice President Roxana Baldetti. Earlier this week, Baldetti appeared in court to face charges against her.
    Perez has dismissed corruption allegations that have been levelled against him by prosecutors, and he adamantly said he would not resign despite mounting pressure on the government and calls for his impeachment as a presidential election looms.
    Carrying placards declaring Perez is not their president, many want to see the Guatemalan president stripped of immunity and face trial alongside Baldetti.
    "(President Otto) Perez Molina in jail already, accompanying his fellow thief, Vice President (Roxana) Baldetti. These people are continuing on with a social revolution. Today we have decided enough already, stop Perez Molina, you thief, you should be in jail," said protester, Juan Jose Talemantes.
    Guatemala's attorney general and a United Nations-backed anti-corruption body known as the CICIG sought to impeach Perez earlier this month after investigations into the corruption racket known as La Linea, or "the line," after a phone hotline that was used in the scandal.
    Under the scam, importers were able to avoid paying customs duties in exchange for bribes, which investigators have said were distributed to officials.
    "The country is bad. We have seen it, everything that has happened. What we want is his resignation," said protester, Hegel Aquino.
    The Guatemalan Supreme Court on Tuesday (August 25) approved a request by the country's attorney general to impeach President Otto Perez over his suspected involvement in a racket to siphon customs revenue from the government, and passed the matter to Congress for approval.
    "Respect the constitution and due process. The president has not resigned, the congress then acts," said congress member for the opposition National Unity of Hope Party, Mario Taracena.
    Earlier this month, Perez scraped through a vote in Congress that would have stripped him of immunity from prosecution.
    On Thursday (August 27) more than half of Guatemala's 158-member Congress voted to lift Perez's immunity, but the total fell short of the two-thirds' majority, or 105 votes, needed to carry the motion.
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