Wait, what's going on in #Guatemala?!

The country is going to erupt in protests this afternoon after a series of long-simmering crises finally hit their boiling point. I'll have an article out at the end of the day, but will tweet context, protest pics, etc in THIS HERE THREAD:

In the 1730s... Just kidding. Tuesday night, while Iota rains were flooding areas already devastated by Eta, Guatemala's congress rammed through a budget bill, giving themselves extra millions for meals, cutting $25M for combatting malnutrition (they put it back after an outcry).

Today is not really about the budget bill. The budget bill was a match thrown onto a pool of fuel that has been gathering for years. There's widespread rage directed at the current congress and president but also at political and business elites that transcend administrations.

That said, certain aspects of the budget bill did trigger protests: the temporary axing of $25M re malnutrition, reducing the human rights ombudsman's office budget by $2.5M, cutting the judiciary's budget almost in half... and the bill's passage at breakneck speed overnight.

Movements of Indigenous survivors of genocide and other atrocities during the 36-year civil war point out the budget doesn't include funding for a promised peace commission to replace 3 institutions the president shut down. Statement attached. Background: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjp4dd/genocide-survivors-say-guatemalan-government-is-blocking-their-fight-for-justice

Politicians, social movements, NGOs and the human rights ombudsman filed legal challenges to the budget -- mainly on procedural grounds -- with the Constitutional Court, which is processing at least 8, requiring congress to file a brief justifying its actions within days.

Calls grew for president Alejandro Giammattei to veto the budget bill, from diverse sectors: academic, business, social movement... and even VP Guillermo Castillo, whose relationship with the president has been tense for ages. Background on Giammattei: https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-01-20/guatemalas-new-president-more-same-experts-say

Then yesterday, the vice president said he had been unable to meet with the president to discuss urgent measures to address the situation, and then took it up a notch:

Vice president Guillermo Castillo publicly called on president Alejandro Giammattei to jointly resign with him.

Different people are calling for different things: resignations, a constitutional assembly, etc. Calls for the president to resign revive the #RenunciaYa slogan from 2015, when mass protests and a corruption investigation brought down a sitting president. https://twitter.com/josejoaking/status/1329970999060803584

There are calls for 2pm protests today in plazas in cities and towns all over Guatemala, though some people are already getting started. I need to write for not-twitter for a bit but will come back to this thread in a couple hours to report from the plaza. To be continued...

Protests usually don't get going until an hour or more after the advertised start time, but it's not even 2pm yet and #Guatemala City's central plaza is already really filling up and many people are still on their way. "The state is a mafia," reads a banner by the sound stage.

Right now in #Guatemala:

"Estado fallido, ya viene el estallido"

It is a VEEEEERY different vibe down here outside congress, where a march led by university students has stopped. CONGRESS IS NOW LITERALLY ON FIRE...

#GUATEMALA'S CONGRESS IS LITERALLY ON FIRE RIGHT NOW:

Police moved in with tear gas and people advanced and scattered away from #Guatemala's congress, which is what you see ablaze. Firefighters are on scene and Red Cross personnel are nearby. I wasn't kidding when I said it's no longer discontent here. It's rage.

This didn't send a while ago for some reason, but after riot police moved in to clear the area outside congress, the scene in #Guatemala City's center became various groups of hundreds of protesters, some facing off against riot police with tear gas. Some scatter and regroup.

"I think this is just the beginning."

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of #Guatemala today and some set a fire in congress, after a controversial budget bill brought a series of long-simmering crises to a boiling point.

Here's my article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/21/guatemala-protesters-torch-congress-as-simmering-anger-boils-over

Protests continued. 20+ arrests. Some injured. Crackdowns on protests elsewhere. @PrensaComunitar has community-based correspondents all over; @ruda_gt & @laCuerda2 are feminist media. RIP my notifications so apologies if I don't see other Qs, but yes, that was a guillotine. /end