Guatemalan election facilities raided, ballot boxes opened - Los Angeles Times
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Guatemalan authorities raid electoral facilities, open boxes holding ballots

Five people walking side by side past a hub of activity outdoors
Agents with the Guatemalan attorney general’s office raid a Supreme Electoral Tribunal facility in Guatemala City on Tuesday.
(Moises Castillo / Associated Press)
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Agents from the Guatemalan attorney general’s office opened dozens of boxes containing votes and photographed their contents Tuesday in another raid on facilities of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Luis Gerardo Ramírez, spokesman for the tribunal, said that its officials had not given agents permission to open the boxes, and that the raid was carried out by the attorney general’s office under a judge’s order.

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The attorney general’s office had asked to review at least 160 boxes containing votes from various parts of the country, Ramírez said.

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The raid was apparently part of several investigations related to the national elections that culminated last month with the election of Bernardo Arévalo, who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform.

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The operation is being led by prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, who has been investigating Arévalo’s progressive Seed Movement party. Curruchiche has been sanctioned by the United States on allegations of obstructing Guatemala’s fight against corruption.

The attorney general’s office confirmed Tuesday’s raid, but declined to say what it was related to. Judge Fredy Orellana, who has also been sanctioned by the U.S., issued the order to carry it out.

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There has been turmoil in Guatemala since Arévalo surprised many by winning a place in the presidential runoff against former first lady Sandra Torres. His subsequent victory in the general election worries the country’s elite and powerful because he has promised to restart the campaign against corruption.

The Biden administration has warned Guatemala against impeding democracy.

“This is unprecedented,” said Gloria López, electoral director of the tribunal. “The law does not establish a process for this.”

She said that only the receiving authority at each polling place on election day is allowed to review the marked ballots.

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López said there are no digital backups for the ballots in the boxes that agents opened. She accused the attorney general’s office of breaking the Supreme Electoral Tribunal’s chain of custody by handling the votes.

“We would no longer be able to ensure what exactly are the votes that are inside the electoral boxes and what is the number of signatures and fingerprints on the [polling place tally sheets] that are going in the boxes,” she said.

Ovidio Orellana, former president of Guatemala’s bar association, said that there is no legal basis for giving a judge or prosecutors the power to touch election boxes or ballots.

“It is an arbitrary act,” he said.

Los Angeles Times staff contributed to this report.

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