Accused of graft, Guatemalan president faces growing demands to step down

GUATEMALA CITY, August 27th, 2015 (EFE) The clamor for President Otto Perez Molina to resign over his alleged participation in corruption is on the rise, and on Thursday people began to gather for demonstrations at various points around Guatemala.

Some stores and shopping centers in Guatemala City also have closed ahead of a demonstration scheduled here later Thursday that is expected to be quite heavily attended.

Police have been deployed at the entry point to the capital on the highway to the Atlantic Ocean, EFE determined, and Interior Minister Eunice Mendizabal said that the move was ordered as a precautionary measure.

The minister, who arrived outside the National Culture Palace accompanied by Deputy Security Minister Elmer Sosa, said that the police will respect the people’s right to demonstrate.

The Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office and the U.N.-sponsored CICIG anti-impunity commission made a formal request to lawmakers last Friday to clear the way for the prosecution of Perez Molina in what is known as the “La Linea” case, involving corruption in the customs service.

Congress is expected to take up the matter on Thursday, naming a panel of five legislators who will be tasked with recommending whether or not to lift the head of state’s immunity from prosecution.

In recent hours, the offices of the Inspector General and Comptroller General urged Perez Molina to resign to prevent the country from becoming ungovernable.

The call for the president’s resignation first came on April 25, eight days after the AG’s office and CICIG busted the La Linea ring.

Judge Miguel Angel Galvez on Wednesday ordered former Vice President Roxana Baldetti held without bail pending trial for her alleged role in La Linea.

Despite the calls for him to step down, Perez Molina has clung to power and last Sunday, in a message to the nation, he categorically denied participating in La Linea.

In curt remarks to journalists before leaving the Torre de Tribunales court complex, Baldetti, who resigned in May amid public outcry, said that she did not believe that the president was implicated in corruption.