Napoleón Barrientos, a Guatemalan Cabinet minister, has resigned from office following criticism that he wasn’t moving aggressively against the country’s protestors.
The sudden resignation of a Guatemalan Cabinet minister appears to signal a division within the administration of President Alejandro Giammattei over how to remove roadblocks by pro-democracy protesters that have stretched into a third week. Interior Minister Napoleón Barrientos, a retired brigadier general, resigned late Monday following a shooting near one of the roadblocks that killed one person and wounded two others.
Porras had urged the blockades’ immediate removal, with force if necessary. On Monday, hours before Barrientos quit, she had called for him to be fired for not heeding a court order to clear them. Those responsible for Monday's shooting were not immediately identified, but Barrientos’ Interior Ministry condemned the violence in a statement hours before the government confirmed his resignation.
There are far fewer roadblocks now than there were a week ago, but the Indigenous groups that initiated the protests say they will maintain them until Porras and some of her prosecutors resign. The protesters see their investigations as interfering with the voters’ decision and a threat to Guatemala’s democracy. Late Tuesday, the government announced that Byron René Bor Illescas, another retired brigadier general, would replace Barrientos.
Mario Mérida, a retired colonel and security expert, said that in the wake of Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, the military has a better understanding of how its actions against civilians are viewed. 'In the past, the decisions and criteria used by the military were more authoritarian than rational,' he said. Now, with that experience, making decisions as a public official 'is complicated.' he said.
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