Guatemalan centre-left presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo has warned the country risks “an authoritarian drift” if his rival Sandra Torres takes office.
Arévalo made the stark warning in an exclusive interview with openDemocracy. Minutes before its publication on Friday, news broke that the headquarters of his party, Semilla, were being raided as part of an investigation started last year, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, into whether it falsified signatures in its election registration.
On 25 June, Arévalo surprised many by winning 11% of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections, setting the stage for an electrifying run-off against Torres (who won 15.8%) of the social-Christian National Unity of Hope party (UNE) next month.
