In 2015, Samuel Pérez and Andrea Reyes were two university students who, moved by outrage, joined anti-corruption demonstrations in Guatemala. Only seven years later, both seek to confront the ruling system from Congress.
Samuel was studying Economics and Andrea was studying Law when they met in the Plaza de la Constitución, in the center of the Guatemalan capital, during the historic and unprecedented protests of 2015, which led to the fall of the Government of Otto Pérez Molina (2012-2015). for a plot of corruption.
Read also: Founder of the Semilla party goes into exile
What started as “a way to channel indignation and organize among students”as Samuel explains, became the Seed Movementa progressive party that won 23 seats for the 2024-2028 period in the elections on June 25, becoming the largest left-wing legislative force in the country’s history.
Those massive sit-ins in front of the National Palace of Culture, seat of the Government, became the foundation for a group of young people to seek “a change that allows the corruption regime to go down”Andrea recalls.
Samuel was 23 years old at the time and Andrea 25. Today, the economist is about to complete his first term in Congress, awaiting his second, while the lawyer will make her debut as a deputy starting next January 14 thanks to the surprise results of the June 25 elections.
The beginning of the adventure in 2015
In the midst of the excitement of the 2015 demonstrations, a university professor invited Samuel to participate in the meetings of a think tank called Semilla, where academics discussed the troubled situation in Guatemala and the scope that corruption and impunity had on the country. State.
“I always had an interest in participating”the economist told EFE, a graduate of the private Jesuit university Rafael Landívar, where he presided over the student association.
Andrea, for her part, was about to graduate as a lawyer at the same university and as a result of those protests they founded with Samuel the group called “Landvarianos”a student expression group that is still in force in the house of studies.
Samuel and other members of the reflection group, who met in a bookstore in the Guatemalan capital, promoted with other colleagues the idea of “form a political party” remember the economist.
This is how the Movimiento Semilla was formed, a progressive party officially registered with the authorities in 2018, made up mainly of women, academics, and students.
“Without the days of protest in the square in 2015, many of us would not have organized ourselves and today we would not have the possibility of making changes for the country and confronting the regime that keeps so many mired in poverty and that forces thousands to migrate. of Guatemalans”reflects Andrea.
Today they raided the headquarters of Semilla, but it is a show of cowardice because we are going to beat the corrupt. pic.twitter.com/jnDmcTJL8D
— Samuel Pérez Álvarez 🌱 (@samuel_pz) July 22, 2023
Against the system in Guatemala
Against all the polls, the Seed Movement surprised in the elections last June by obtaining 23 deputies and sneaking into the second presidential round at the hands of its candidate, the academic Bernardo Arévalo de León, whom the polls placed in seventh or eighth position. .
Since then, the political group has been criminally persecuted by the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office), whose leadership, sanctioned by the United States on corruption charges, intends to prevent Semilla from continuing in the political contest and coming to power.
“We represent the interests of the people and that is why they want to kick us out. They are afraid, because with us governing it will be difficult for them to continue unpunished.” Andrea explains.
Seed’s option comes after almost 40 years of conservative governments plagued by corruption since the establishment of the democratic era in 1986, which has led, in the opinion of party members, to the population’s weariness.
“They (the corrupt) are not going to win again”warns Samuel.
“They can cancel the game, and we are going to put together another one. They can try to take us prisoner, and there will be more people. They (the corrupt) do not have the majority that they previously captured at the polls, because there is an active people that will never allow a return to the past”sentenced the deputy.
Anything they do against the second electoral round would breach the provisional protection that the CC granted to @msemillagt
It is also so that we realize that they want to harm democracy from its very backbone, the citizens who participate in it— Andrea Maria 🌱 (@drewzecena) July 27, 2023
