Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
Fake News CNN and Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo are trying to pit Marco Rubio against Donald Trump. They want Rubio, as secretary of state, to support Arévalo’s illegitimate regime that is harmful to US interests.
Fernando del Rincon of CNN told Arévalo in their November 29 interview that Trump’s tenure will be difficult regarding immigration. Rincon asked with whom of Trump’s team Arévalo had communications. Arévalo replied that he had contact with Trump’s team, particularly with Marco Rubio’s staff.
Obviously partial to Arévalo, Rincon commented that the relationship with Rubio would be important and good leverage. Arévalo said that he had met with Senator Rubio (R-FL) as president-elect in 2023 and that Rubio was a “signatory of a bipartisan congressional statement that called for respecting Guatemala’s electoral results.”
Rubio and four colleagues issued a December 12, 2023 press release about Guatemala. The statement said “Friday’s announcement by Guatemalan prosecutors to strip President-elect Arevalo of his legal immunity and cast doubt on his January 14, 2024, inauguration is a threat to Guatemala’s democracy.”
The case underlying the action regarding Arévalo’s immunity was unrelated to the election. For one year, intruders had occupied and vandalized Guatemala’s national university. The university asked the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) to act. Public documentary evidence against Arévalo and his running mate justified the request to remove their immunity to permit the investigation to go forward.
Since 2010, Democrats have put their politics above Guatemalan sovereignty, law, and US interests. Rubio was likely influenced by the State Department’s (DOS) corrupt local partners.
DOS directed electoral fraud to make Arévalo president and needed to override the law to have him inaugurated. The AGO received more than 1,000 complaints regarding electoral fraud, prompting investigations. DOS accused Attorney General Consuelo Porras of lacking jurisdiction over electoral issues and illegally persecuting Arévalo. Guatemala’s constitution and electoral law clearly assign jurisdiction over electoral crimes to the AGO.
DOS harshly criticized Porras for conducting court-ordered searches and seizures of electoral materials. When many DOS efforts to remove Porras from office failed, NGOs that had received USAID grants blockaded roads and various AGO locations. The civic association Liga Pro-Patria (Liga) which for 26 years has promoted the rule of law stated these NGOs were DOS surrogates.
DOS Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Brian Nichols stated the AGO’s actions were intended to keep Arévalo from taking office. Nichols called the violence against Porras and the AGO peaceful protests.
Arévalo petitioned the high court to order the AGO to not investigate electoral matters. The court confirmed the AGO’s jurisdiction and ordered it to provide all relevant agencies with the results of its investigation. On December 12, 2023, the AGO presented evidence detailing Arévalo’s party’s fraudulent registration and the electoral fraud that resulted in Arévalo being declared president.
Among the details of the fraud were more than 8,000 fraudulent party affiliation forms of the 25,000 required to achieve registration. The electoral authority destroyed or lost 7,950 original tally sheets, representing more than 2 million votes, which by law had to be stored in sealed boxes in a specific location. Metadata revealed the electoral authority had uploaded votes before the polls closed.
Possibly Rubio and colleagues had no knowledge about the electoral fraud and were misled about the nature of the crimes for which the AGO sought to strip Arévalo’s immunity. However, secretary of state nominee Rubio now has the benefit of hindsight and of events since the group’s press release.
The Liga stated that the DOS fraudulent takeover of Guatemala was to “promote narco- and human trafficking, including children, from and through Guatemala.” This Joe Biden regime policy harmed US national security, and correcting it is a top priority for Trump.
Rincon berated Arévalo for not removing Porras as attorney general. DOS and its puppet Arévalo have done all they can to remove her before her term ends in May 2026. Porras obtained a high-court injunction against Arévalo. She had told the court there was a “real, certain, and imminent threat” that Arévalo’s unlawful measures against her could result in “attacks against her physical integrity and life.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) in May that the US embassy had extorted Guatemalan congressmen to vote for a law to permit Arévalo to remove Porras. Three weeks later, Nichols also admitted the crime to HFAC. Blinken and Nichols defended the extortion by falsely claiming they were defending democracy because Porras had tried to prevent Arévalo from taking office.
Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
