Protests ripped through Guatemala last week due to anger over the country’s 2021 budget that many in the country say takes from worthwhile initiatives, such as funding human rights agencies and coronavirus treatments, and instead directs the money straight back into the coffers of lawmakers.
Alejandro Giammattei, the president, was the focus of much of the unrest that resulted in an arson attack at the Congress building in Guatemala City last Saturday. Rosa de Chavarría, a psychology professor, told the Associated Press that the protesters are outraged over “poverty, injustice, the way they have stolen the public’s money.”
Protesters called for Giammattei to resign and demanded that he veto the budget. The AP report pointed out that the country is still trying to emerge from two major hurricanes this year.
The AP reported one of the items approved was $65,000 that lawmakers will be able to use to pay for their own meals. That money would have otherwise gone to human rights issues, the report said.
“Congress allocated more money for their meals and didn’t allocate money to the poor people,” Diego Herrera told Reuters.
The AP report said the church leadership in the country also sided with the public over the newly announced budget. Jordan Rodas, Guatemala’s human rights prosecutor, called the budget a “devious blow to the people because Guatemala was between natural disasters, there are signs of government corruption, clientelism in the humanitarian aid.”
TREND FORECAST: From Africa to Asia, from the Middle East to Latin America, as the COVID War rages on and economies lock down deeper, the “Greatest Depression” will worsen, poverty rates will rise, and civil unrest will escalate into civil wars… and, in many areas, spread into regional wars.
