Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
Opposition to Lawfare Is Lacking in Guatemala
President Donald Trump’s opposition to lawfare in Brazil contrasts with his administration’s support of lawfare in Guatemala. The latter nation requires his immediate attention. Both Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo would not have taken office without the Joe Biden regime’s involvement in electoral fraud in each country.
On July 7, Trump called the trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro a “WITCH HUNT … an attack on a political opponent” and said “LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE.” Bolsonaro is charged with allegedly plotting a coup in 2022 after losing the presidential election to Lula.
Biden’s CIA Director William Burns and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan both warned then–president Bolsonaro against any purportedly fraudulent election. Burns and Sullivan revealed their nefarious intent by not saying this to Brazil’s Supreme Court, which controlled the election.
Lula had been president from 2003 to 2010. He was convicted in 2017 in the Operation Car Wash scandal of selling state assets for kickbacks and laundering money. Lula served 580 days in prison of a 12-year sentence and was released by the Supreme Court in 2019 on a technicality.
Bolsonaro’s opponent and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes was also president of the electoral authority during the 2022 election. The electoral authority made it a crime to say Lula had been released on a technicality and not acquitted and to call him an ex-convict, a thief, or corrupt.
Biden called the election “free, fair, and credible.” The State Department (DOS) said the election was “a model for the hemisphere.”
Lula and Fidel Castro created the Sao Paulo Forum in 1990 and changed communist strategy from armed assault to internal subversion. Lula is a Xi Jinping ally trying to remove the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Lula has been a proactive ally of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Trump is correct. Defending liberty and opposing tyranny help the United States. Brazil is an obviously important country. Although small, Guatemala is geopolitically and strategically important and merits Trump’s attention. In the absence of his attention, Trump’s administration is the perpetrator of lawfare there against US interests.
DOS took over Guatemala’s Attorney General’s Office in 2010 and its high court in 2016. It imposed criminal socialists and abused power against its political opponents. Guatemala recovered its high court in 2021, which freed Attorney General Consuelo Porras to prosecute DOS’s corrupt prosecutors and judges.
DOS participated in electoral fraud in 2023 to make Arévalo president, hide its crimes, and control Guatemala for its anti-US agenda. Porras drew DOS ire by investigating electoral fraud, which she proved. The judiciary canceled Arévalo’s party after Porras showed in court that one-third of its affiliation sheets were fraudulent. She discovered that about 2 million out of 5.6 million 2023 votes were missing.
DOS orchestrated a comprehensive campaign to intimidate and confuse Guatemalans, including high-court judges, to support Arévalo and oppose Porras. Holdover Ambassador Tobin Bradley and his number two Patrick Ventrell are still in their posts executing Biden’s policy: keeping Arévalo in power by all means.
DOS is more vulnerable to exposure in Guatemala than elsewhere, because Guatemalans have resisted its criminal impositions. This resistance has caused DOS personnel to be more blatant with their crimes. Exposing these crimes would cascade to other countries and departments, increasing support for substantial changes in DOS and the rest of the federal bureaucracy.
Combating transnational crime is a Trump priority. The Guatemalan army and police recently watched and did nothing when narcotraffickers violently engaged Mexican authorities in Guatemalan territory.
Arévalo has illegally kept Defense Minister Henry Saenz in his post past the legal deadline. This is a step towards turning the armed forces into a tool for Arévalo, as Hugo Chávez did in Venezuela. Despite the clear illegality, Guatemala’s high court recently denied an injunction request against Saenz remaining.
Porras brought a case against Blanca Alfaro, the president of the electoral authority. Since Alfaro’s immunity prevents an investigation, Congress is legally required to vote on whether to lift Alfaro’s immunity.
(1) The original electoral materials were not where they must legally be stored;
(2) Some materials were found in the electoral authority office, a violation of law;
(3) the 2 million missing votes;
(4) the national auditor’s report of embezzlement in purchases;
The high court blocked the case from going to Congress. This is clearly corrupt. It fits the pattern of the high court protecting Arévalo, as was the Biden policy.
In Brazil, the Biden regime and DOS were key in the fraud that made Lula president. The same applies to Guatemala with Arévalo. Trump is trying to help correct this in Brazil while his officials in Guatemala intervene illegally to keep the judiciary from applying the law to Arévalo.
If Lula must compete fairly, he will lose in 2026. Brazil might become a US ally again instead of China’s. If Trump looks at Guatemala, he can end the illegal US pressure in favor of Arévalo, which should lead to Arévalo’s removal. Guatemala might become a US ally again instead of joining Maduro, which is where Guatemala is headed right now.
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Author: Steve Hecht
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