Skip to content
Search
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

What We're Watching

Is Guatemala’s soft coup firming up?

Members of indigenous communities gather in support of democracy, as the U.S. and other countries blame current Guatemalan authorities for trying to block the accession of president-elect Bernardo Arevalo, in Guatemala City, Guatemala November 3, 2023.

Members of indigenous communities gather in support of democracy, as the U.S. and other countries blame current Guatemalan authorities for trying to block the accession of president-elect Bernardo Arevalo, in Guatemala City, Guatemala November 3, 2023.

REUTERS/Cristina Chiquin
Tasha Kheiriddin
By Tasha KheiriddinNovember 20, 2023
Tasha Kheiriddin
Tasha is a political columnist, commentator, and author based in Toronto, Canada. You can read her in The National Post, on Substack at In My Opinion, and in her most recent book, "The Right Path."
See Full Bio
Make us preferred on Google

A “soft coup” is underway in Guatemala to prevent President-elect Bernardo Arevalo and his center-left Seed Movement Party from taking power on Jan. 14, 2024, six months after winning the national election in a landslide on an anti-corruption platform. Prosecutors want to strip Arevalo’s prosecutorial immunity, allowing for criminal charges related to a student occupation his office is alleged to have used social media to encourage at the country’s largest university last year.

Last week, the attorney general’s office demanded that electoral authorities hand over candidate registration documents for Arevalo and party leader Samuel Perez. The Guatemalan Congress installed a committee to consider stripping these authorities of their immunity, which could lead to arrests and to the questioning of election results. Congress, meanwhile, named new justices loyal to the current regime to the Supreme Court, giving them the power to rubber-stamp these and other legal maneuvers to keep Arevalo out of office.

The international community swiftly condemned these moves. In a statement on Saturday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression called out the attorney general's "incessant improper actions and interference." Senior US Department of State official Brian Nichols criticized the attorney general's actions in a post on X, and the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas published a letter signed by 29 former heads of state from Latin America and Spain denouncing the "persecution" of Arevalo and Herrera as having the "repeated and clear purpose of obstructing the sovereign will of Guatemalans, already expressed through free elections."

While the country’s constitutional court – which is more divided than the Supreme Court, politically speaking – will have the final say, we’re watching to see whether this outrage translates to street protests, which, together with international condemnation, might be the most effective means of stopping the anti-Arevalo forces from making their soft coup a hard reality.

politicslatin america-caribbean

Latest Videos

World Leader Book Clubplay icon
Puppet Regime

World Leader Book Club

The world is paying the price for American foreign aid cuts
GZERO World Clips

The world is paying the price for American foreign aid cuts

US plan to divide the world’s AI alliances?
Quick Take

US plan to divide the world’s AI alliances?

The human toll of the war in Ukraine
GZERO World Clips

The human toll of the war in Ukraine

How America's retreat from foreign aid is changing the world
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

How America's retreat from foreign aid is changing the world

The collapse of the aid system
Ian Explains

The collapse of the aid system

More For You

US-Canada talks hit tariff deadline, Meta goes on trial, Japan to test missiles in Australia

A banner reading "Buy Canadian", in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on goods from Canada, is held aloft by a pair of hockey sticks in front of a house

A banner reading "Buy Canadian", in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on goods from Canada, is held aloft by a pair of hockey sticks in front of a house in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada March 5, 2025.

REUTERS/Ed White
US and Canada hold last-minute talks to avoid new tariffs Washington and Ottawa are down to the wire with talks to reach an agreement by 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, when President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 50% tariffs on over $20 billion of Canadian goods. The proposed tariffs would hit Canadian exports to the US — everything from hockey [...]

US to reduce military cooperation with South Korea, Iran digs in for battle of attrition, Campaign season kicks off in Brazil

​U.S. Army soldiers take part in a U.S.-South Korea joint river-crossing exercise.

U.S. Army soldiers take part in a U.S.-South Korea joint river-crossing exercise, which is a part of the annual Freedom Shield joint military training, near the demilitarized zone separating South and North Korea, in Yeoncheon, South Korea, March 14, 2026.

REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon
Trump puts another dent in US-South Korea relationsPresident Donald Trump announced Sunday that the US would scale back future joint military exercises with South Korea, just as the allies’ annual August drills kicked off today. In a Truth Social post, Trump cited his “good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and said Seoul had [...]

Zambia awaits presidential results, US to let companies hack cybercriminals back, Chile transfers hundreds to high-security prison

A person casts a vote at a polling station during Zambia's general elections, including a presidential election, in Lusaka, Zambia.

A person casts a vote at a polling station during Zambia's general elections, including a presidential election, in Lusaka, Zambia, August 13, 2026.

REUTERS/Jean Mandela
Zambians want their slice of the copper piePolls closed in Zambia’s presidential election on Thursday as voters in one of Africa’s most stable democracies weighed whether the country’s economic turnaround has actually affected their wallets. President Hakainde Hichilema, who is seeking a second term, has overseen a successful debt restructuring, [...]

South Africa wants other African countries to write it a check, The Pentagon prepares to zap drones, Putin visits islands seized from Japan in WWII

Nearly 5,000 protesters took part in a march against illegal immigration in Pretoria.

June 30, 2026 , Pretoria, South Africa: Nearly 5,000 protesters took part in a march against illegal immigration in Pretoria. The demonstrations were reportedly organized by more than 20 anti-migrant organizations and civil society groups, including the March and March movement.

© Manash Das/ZUMA Press Wire
South Africa bills other nations for deportationsSouth Africa is asking other African countries to reimburse them for the costs of deporting their citizens, after spending nearly $18 million on a massive deportation campaign. In recent months, the government has deported or helped other nations repatriate more than 80,000 migrants as it responds [...]