URGENT OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA OF THE UNITED STATES
New York and Diaspora, August 31, 2015
Distinguished
President Barack Obama,
This is an urgent appeal to you. We ask you to immediately take
two important actions regarding the political crisis in Guatemala:
a)
Call for Otto Pérez Molina to resign this week
from the presidency in Guatemala; and
b)
Advise electoral authorities in Guatemala to postpone
the elections scheduled for September 6, 2015
Since early May, when then-Vice President Roxana Baldetti
resigned her position after accusations by CICIG and the Attorney General
Thelma Aldana of leading a corruption ring within the government, only your
Administration and the private sector in Guatemala sustained Otto Pérez Molina
as President of Guatemala.
We all knew in Guatemala that Mr. Pérez was the real
leader of that ring and other corruption schemes, but Ambassador Todd Robinson gave
him his full support. A week ago, CICIG and Attorney General Thelma Aldana
finally presented proof of Mr. Pérez’s involvement, and previous hesitant
actors, like the Head of the Catholic Church and the private sector represented
by CACIF, asked for Mr. Pérez’s resignation. Only the United States and corrupt
high-ranking army officers in Guatemala have opposed this necessary action. The
Guatemalan people firmly believe that president Pérez must resign before the
scheduled date for elections on September 6th.
At this point 7 out of 10 Guatemalans do not trust at all
the forthcoming elections. The electoral process is unconstitutional, illegal,
immoral and illegitimate. It is not a solution to the crisis, and eventually may
lead to a “real revolution.” The United States has significant responsibility for
the current events, not only for its historical intervention in Guatemalan
affairs since 1954 but also because it has watched this crisis develop for more
than four months. We urge you to advise electoral authorities in Guatemala to
suspend the scheduled elections. If there is no halt to the electoral farce,
violence may erupt in the country after almost five months of peaceful
demonstrations.
Mr. Obama, without appearing overly dramatic, we believe
that if by September 6th Otto Pérez Molina continues as Head of
State in Guatemala and these unpopular and fictional elections take place,
Guatemalans and other Latino voters in the United States will turn against the
Democratic Party in the presidential elections of 2016. Please, do not condemn
Guatemalans to endure four more years of corruption and abuse.
Mr. Obama, this is the time to use your influence for good,
for democracy, and for peaceful political change in Guatemala. For 61 years the
United States has impeded real democracy in our country; it is time for a
positive change.
Sincerely,
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