Guatemalans Protest Leader’s Power Grab

The outcry over President Jorge Serrano’s seizure of dictatorial powers moved to the streets of this capital for the first time Thursday, while the Congress that Serrano dissolved called on Guatemala’s armed forces to oust the president.

Hundreds of students, union activists and other citizens, in violation of a government ban on demonstrations, marched to demand a return to constitutional rule.

One rally ended violently when military police in armored vehicles fired tear gas on a crowd of more than 500 demonstrators outside the Supreme Court. Four union leaders were arrested and a newspaper photographer was injured.

A later, larger demonstration ended without police interference. Led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu, protesters chanting “Justice!” and “Democracy!” marched to the presidential palace.

Declaring that he would rule by decree, Serrano on Tuesday suspended the constitution, dissolved Congress and the Supreme Court and imposed strict press censorship.

As international repudiation of Serrano’s actions continued to grow, the U.S. and German governments suspended aid to Guatemala.

Seventy-three members of the dissolved Congress met secretly Thursday and issued a statement calling for the army to overthrow Serrano. The statement also disclosed that Serrano staged his takeover on the eve of a congressional investigation into the president’s finances.

Jose Fernando Lobo Dubon, president of the dissolved Congress, confirmed the authenticity of the document. He spoke to reporters at his home, where he has remained under house arrest since Serrano’s coup.

Serrano has said repeatedly that he seized absolute power because the 116-member Congress and Supreme Court were corrupt. The clandestine Congress, however, accused Serrano of acting to derail a probe into “the scandalous, illicit enrichment of the president, in situations similar to Brazil and Venezuela.”

Among the matters Congress was to investigate, Lobo Dubon said, were Serrano’s reported possession of 52 houses and several large farms.

Guatemala’s leftist guerrilla front has waged war against Guatemalan governments for the last 32 years. Recently, the guerrillas and the government have held peace talks. Those negotiations seemed doomed after Serrano’s power grab.

“The coup signifies the return to a long and dark period of suffering and sacrifice for the people of Guatemala, governed by the military at the behest of the traditional large economic interests,” the guerrillas said from Mexico City.

Guatemala was ruled by the armed forces for more than three decades until civilian government was restored in 1985. Serrano’s election in 1990 marked the first transfer of office from one civilian president to another in 40 years.

With the constitution suspended, demonstrations and rallies are outlawed. Defying the ban, hundreds of protesters outside the Supreme Court chanted “Out, Out, Out!” shortly before Serrano arrived to swear in a new court of nine handpicked members.

Military police broke up the demonstration before the ceremony began.

Later, about 2,000 people crowded into Guatemala City’s 18th-Century Metropolitan Cathedral for a Mass originally scheduled to mourn a student killed during demonstrations last week.

The Mass became a protest rally, with participants applauding as priests advocated respect for human rights.