The Guatemalan Congress will reverse the budget that originated the protests
The president of the Guatemalan Congress, Allan Rodríguez, said on Monday that he would reverse the 2021 state budget, whose approval on Wednesday led to a massive demonstration and the burning of part of Parliament by hooded men.
Rodriguez informed of the decision in a pre-recorded message accompanied by 16 other deputies from various blocks allied to the ruling party, which was broadcast in the early hours of Monday morning through congressional communications channels.
According to local media, the message was recorded at a Ministry of Defence headquarters, although the authorities have not confirmed this version despite journalists' insistence. Nor has the reason for the time of the message been explained, several minutes after midnight.
"We have agreed to suspend the processing of the state's income and expenditure budget for 2021," Rodríguez said, adding that "consequently this decree will not be sent to the executive branch".
However, the president of the Congress did not refer to the changes to be made and sent to the president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, before December, as provided for by law.
In addition, opposition deputy Lucrecia Hernández Mack warned in a message on her social networks that legally "neither the board of directors (of Congress) nor its blocks have the power to file a law approved by the plenary" and urged the population not to be deceived by the parliamentary authorities.
The approval of the budget last Wednesday, at 5:30 a.m., provoked an unrest in the population that resulted in the Saturday demonstrations, called during the week to express the rejection of Congress.
The budget, approved by 115 of 160 legislators under strict security measures with several streets closed, has been described as "opaque" by opposition legislators who said they never had access to the document. In addition, according to experts, the budget presents extensive reductions for health and human rights issues.
Parliament's building was burned down by 15-20% - pending confirmation by the authorities - on Saturday by hundreds of hooded protesters who stormed the Congress and set it on fire with torches.
After ten minutes of chaos security forces cleaned up the area and relief workers put out the fire.
At the same time, less than a kilometre away, some 10 000 Guatemalans demonstrated peacefully against Giammattei and the parliament in front of the National Palace of Culture, the seat of government.
This Sunday, opposition deputy Orlando Blanco said he suspected that there were "infiltrators", probably gang members, in Saturday's anti-government demonstrations and that they might be involved in the burning of Congress.
Blanco also indicated that it is possible that "internal personnel" of the Guatemalan Parliament itself, located in the centre of the country's capital, may have participated in the fire. "We know the Congress. This would not have happened without the participation of internal personnel from Congress," argued Blanco, from the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) political group.
Giammattei last appeared publicly on Friday afternoon and since then has only referred to the Saturday incidents in a message on social networks: “I reiterate that you have the right to demonstrate according to the law. But we cannot allow vandalism of public or private property,” he wrote.
However, the president has always backed the budget, as has his party, the Vamos political group, with a majority in Congress through alliances.
On Friday night, after Giammattei endorsed the budget again, his vice president Guillermo Castillo told reporters that the country is not “well” and urged Giammattei to present his resignation alongside him to “oxygenate” the Central American nation.
Meanwhile, on Sunday hundreds of people gathered again as they did on Saturday in front of the National Palace of Culture to express their rejection of the president.
