The president of Guatemala steps down after his immunity is stripped and an arrest warrant is issued

Left-of-center opposition legislator Bernardo Arévalo shattered all forecasts, seizing second place in Guatemala’s presidential elections on Sunday and advancing to an August runoff. Arévalo will face political boss Sandra Torres.

This week’s wrap-up comes to you from the cozy confines of quarantine, as senior editor Hector Luis Alamo has managed to catch COVID for only the second time this year.

“¡No nos callarán!” —They will not shut us up!— chanted dozens of concerned citizens and journalists outside the Palace of Justice in Guatemala City on Monday morning as they waited for the hearing of prominent journalist José Rubén Zamora.

Central America, in Brief: Persecution of judges and prosecutors, expulsion of international anti-corruption monitors, and cooptation of courts have spread in the region.

A national strike shook Guatemala last week following the removal of a top anti-corruption prosecutor. In El Salvador, while walking a precarious fiscal tightrope, Nayib Bukele handed a rare olive branch to civil society groups critical of his administration.

In her first visit to the region this week, Vice President Kamala Harris’ blunt message to Central American migrants (“Do not come”) triggered a backlash among human rights defenders and Central America experts for contradicting international asylum laws and appearing insensitive to the reality driving migration.

“Throw them in jail, take their cell phones!” yelled Nicaraguan riot police in a Managua office building complex last Thursday morning as they chased down reporters from international and local outlets.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with a group of leading voices on Guatemala’s troubled justice system Wednesday, sending yet another signal to Central American governments that the U.S. government is interested in addressing the region’s corruption.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s Congress began reshaping the country’s highest court Tuesday, selecting a new magistrate and an alternate in decisions that could have grave consequences for the battle against corruption and impunity.

Thelma Aldana pursued prominent anti-corruption cases as prosecutor.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s former chief prosecutor said Monday she has been granted asylum in the United States, in the face of charges filed in her home country that she claims are retaliation for her anti-corruption campaign.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Erika Lorena Aifán is used to threats after more than a decade as a judge in Guatemala, but she says the tone has intensified in recent months, such as the text message to her cellphone saying that she and her family “should be dead.”

Sounds of what may be automatic weapon fire were widespread on social media.

The current political crisis in the United States shares similarities with political issues in Latin America.

On June 16, the country will go to the polls to elect a successor to former comedian Jimmy Morales, who rode a wave of anti-corruption protests to office as an outsider candidate in 2015.

Governor Ricardo Rosselló withdrew the controversial bill.

Schools, public offices and industries will be closed Monday as the state attempts to fix the grid, according to Information Minister Jorge Rodríguez.

Newsom had first alluded to defying Trump’s orders in his inaugural speech earlier this year.

In a scenario that has become increasingly common in elections throughout the hemisphere, an outsider candidate who distanced himself from the political establishment emerged triumphant.

Maduro announced yesterday that he is seeking to expand the presence of local militias in the country to 2 million by mid-April.