🧹 Cleanup in Guatemala, persecution in Ecuador

Guatemala's 2023 election cycle ranks among the most tainted in recent Latin American history, with the country's political establishment having banned three leading presidential candidates, before trying to stop a fourth from taking office.

The overt anti-democratic push began when courts disqualified indigenous left-wing leader Thelma Cabrera and conservative businessman Roberto Arzú. The Supreme Electoral Court then issued a third ban against Carlos Pineda, a populist outsider whose poll numbers had surged after the earlier disqualifications.

Yet another overlooked regime critic was allowed to run — and he won. Bernardo Arévalo, a moderate progressive, enjoyed a late surge and slipped into the runoff with just 12% of the vote. He then defeated establishment-approved candidate Sandra Torres.

Guatemala's attorney general's office, led by Consuelo Porras, did everything in its power…

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