Guatemalans demand the resignation of President Giammattei and Attorney General Consuelo Porras. | Photo: EFE

Guatemala City, July 29 (RHC)-- Social, indigenous, peasant and student organizations of Guatemala mobilized on Thursday to demand the resignation of President Alejandro Giammattei.

Demonstrators also demanded the resignation of the head of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), Consuelo Porras, for the dismissal of Juan Francisco Sandoval as head of the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

In the capital Guatemala City, the concentration point was on the campus of the University of San Carlos.  The protesters then marched to the headquarters of the Public Prosecutor's Office, with stops at the Congress and the Presidential House until reaching the Plaza de la Constitución.

Outside the capital, road blockades, walks, rallies and other activities took place in all departments of the country to demand the resignation of the Guatemalan president.

Indigenous authorities of the country have called on their people to support the protests and go out to show their rejection to the Government and against the co-optation of the State by politicians and economic elites.

During a press conference, they warned that Attorney General Consuelo Porras and President Alejandro Giammattei have become the public face of corruption, co-optation and mismanagement of the State and the health crisis derived from COVID-19.

On July 24, during an assembly attended by representatives of the Mayan, Garifuna and Xinca peoples, as well as civil society and students, the leaders of the 48 Cantons decided to go on strike if Porras did not resign within two days.

The July 29th protests occurred eight months after the 2020 protests against the approval of the 2021 budget by Congress and the refusal of President Giammattei to veto it, despite popular rejection for cuts in education, health and justice.