International backlash grows after move to strip Guatemalan president-elect's immunity

Guatemala's President-elect Bernardo Arevalo stands on the Square of Human Rights outside the Supreme Court, in Guatemala City, Guatemala November 16, 2023. REUTERS/Cristina Chiquin/file photo

(Reuters) - International rebuke swelled on Saturday over what observers say are efforts to use a politicized justice system to keep Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arevalo out of office.

A prosecutor at Guatemala's attorney general's office on Thursday moved to strip Arevalo of his immunity from prosecution, accusing him and his running mate of complicity in the takeover of a university in the capital last year.