We are a role model. Unfortunately.
From @capitolhunters:
A right-wing party loses a free & fair election, claims election fraud, and refuses to certify the results – first the US, then Brazil, today it’s Guatemala. No armed militia but still chaos at the Capitol – pushed by the same people who pushed Jan 6.
Anticorruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo was fairly elected. The losers then blocked the peaceful transfer of power. The NYT shamelessly finds a new low in how to trivialize this attempted coup: “Tempers Flare as Guatemala’s Presidential Inauguration is delayed”.
One difference: in Guatemala the people in the streets with flags are the winning party, those trying to preserve democracy. As on Jan 6, everyone knew what was coming and converged on the Capitol.
The rise of authoritarianism is a global issue. The Biden administration has been quietly working to convince the losers in Guatemala to leave. Sen. Mike Lee (UT), who knew Jan 6 plans, is pushing for the coup – and Ric Grenell is there in person to cheer it on.
Because today was to be inauguration day, officials from the US and other countries – Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Columbia – were present when the violence started. They issued a joint statement: “the will of the Guatemalan people must be respected”
Correction to Tweet 1: in Brazil, the coup attempt was a week after inauguration, a strategic mistake. In Guatemala it was on inauguration day. As on Jan 6, people waited, after dark, as order was restored to the Capitol, to see if democracy would win.
January 6 is not over. Anti-democratic movements don’t stop on their own. The US must do its part by fully investigating and prosecuting what happened on Jan 6 – not just the gullible mob but the leaders who planned and directed it, and who are spreading the cancer worldwide.
I’m sure you all remember Ric Grenell, Trump’s once and future Director of National Intelligence and hardcore MAGA political operative. WTF is he doing messing with Guatamala’s election? He’s not in any office.
Grenell was an early acolyte of Viktor Orban of Hungary. He worked for him. He is part of a global network of white nationalist authoritarians. And he’s working it. I assume he’s also making money at it.