Guatemalans need not fear the US paper tiger

The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

The Joe Biden regime and the State Department (DOS) have done it directed electoral fraud to make the communist puppet Bernardo Arévalo declared the elected president of Guatemala. On December 8, the Attorney General's Office (PGO) published the findings— that show fraud — from their investigations of 1,000 complaints.

If the Guatemalans apply their laws, they will annul the June 25 election. The new Congress will then appoint a president and vice president to serve until new elections are held.

Since the release of PGO, DOS has increased its aggressiveness to Guatemala to make sure Arévalo opens on January 14th, law be damned. DOS is trying intimidate and deceive the Guatemalans into believing that the United States will apply a stronger punishment if Arévalo is not inaugurated.

Until now, DOS's main weapon has been visa revocation, but many Guatemalans now fear trade sanctions. Without explicitly stating it, DOS encourages ingenuity. Trade sanctions would be a lose-lose, undermining trade opportunities and drawing scrutiny and disapproval from DOS.

Willingly or not, the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) has done just that supported Crimes DOS against Guatemala. Attempting to punish Guatemala for legally denying Arévalo the presidency would prompt House leaders to remedy the HFAC's shirking of its duty.

The Guatemalan resistance has pierced the wall of the deep state that protects DOS from Congress and the public. Revealing the blatant criminality of the DOS in Guatemala would set off a chain of events that could expose the sordid history of the US foreign policy establishment and cripple its hegemony.

James Risch (R-ID), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has already pointed out that “Biden sanctioned 300 Guatemalan officials in one day, but in three years has not sanctioned a single individual in Maduro's criminal regime…Biden's priorities undermine America's security and democratic partners.” The glaring discrepancy shows how desperate DOS and the Biden regime are to hide their crimes and resume their socialist conquest of Guatemala.

The DOS has revoked the visas of the 108 members of the Guatemalan Congress who voted in favor of lifting the immunity of four magistrates of the electoral authority (TSE) on November 30. The magistrates are now under investigation. The national auditors had accused the magistrates of embezzlement. The Biden regime now officially stands for election malpractice and fraud. The fact that Arévalo is inaugurated apparently justifies criminal means.

TWO too revoked visas for columnists and businessmen who weren't even politically engaged, but staying neutral isn't enough for the Biden regime. A businessman must bow to DOS or go unnoticed to still have a US visa. To demonstrate its bad faith and punitive, collectivist and anti-democratic nature, DOS also revoked the visas of the women of its targets.

Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols visited Guatemala in October. He met with business leaders to threaten consequences if the PGO investigations continued. US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Patrick Ventrell has also met with private sector leaders to intimidate them into backing election control advocates.

Former US Ambassador to Germany and Acting Director of National Intelligence Rick Grenell criticized this: “Ventrell has even threatened the Constitutional Court [CC] magistrates, congressmen and leaders of the private sector [that] if they don't support/govern to protect the progressive president-elect they will face “extreme measures”…Congress should call Ventrell to testify under oath about his role. This is embarrassing.”

The day after DOS's mass revocation of US visas, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said he emphatically rejected “intimidation intended to frighten Guatemalans…I call on congressmen in the House and Senate to exercise their oversight roles by asking the US State Department to explain its actions toward Guatemala.”

The TSE is obliged to react to the PGO report of December 8, to annul the elections or confirm their validity. However, since the four TSE judges fled Guatemala on the day Congress lifted their immunity, the TSE has been unable to function due to lack of a quorum.

DOS does not want either the replacement of the TSE magistrates or the CC to pronounce on the elections before January 14. DOS knows that overwhelming evidence of fraud requires reversal. The CC and Congress can avoid the wrath of DOS by dragging their feet, as they are now, until January 14. This dereliction of duty will fit DOS's plan to circumvent the law to achieve Arévalo's inauguration.

Given the public evidence of fraud, there is no way to justify an Arévalo presidency. It would allow the perpetrators and beneficiaries of the crimes to reap their rewards, violating a centuries-old precept of common law.

If the puppet of the Biden regime were to become president, DOS officials could commit more crimes to illegally keep him at the head of an anti-US dictatorship.

Guatemala's law, sovereignty and constitutional transition of power demand that its Congress and CC fulfill their duties and immediately provide a functioning TSE. The CC can then rule on the annulment or confirmation of the election before January 14.

US national security demands a congressional investigation into the Biden regime weaponization against Guatemala. The investigation would educate the public and begin the process of preventing the federal bureaucracy from becoming an unelected and unaccountable fourth branch of government.

Steve Hecht is an entrepreneur, writer and film producer, born and raised in New York. He has lived and worked in Guatemala since 1972. He holds a degree in Economic Sciences and a Master of Business Administration in Banking and Finance, both from Columbia University.

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