There is a novel written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez titled Chronicle of a Death Foretold that narrates the story of a man who is killed even though the entire town had foreknowledge of his assassination. I have borrowed part of the title of this novel to convey a very simple message: the impeachment campaign against President Donald Trump was foretold by the actions in Latin America, specifically in Guatemala.
Almost every single action taken against President Trump was previously used against President Jimmy Morales of Guatemala from the beginning of his presidency in 2016. The smears included false accusations questioning his moral character to bogus conspiracies about collusion with world powers or organized crime.
The entire strategy being used against the institution of the President of the United States was tested and has been used against the office of the President of Guatemala. For example, in 2015, even before Morales took office, overzealous prosecutors investigated a false accusation of rape made against him that was dismissed within a week by the specialized office that investigates crimes against women at the attorney general’s office.
Nevertheless, solid institutions, a strong and unbreakable commitment to sovereignty, the support of a silent majority, and having the personal commitment of doing and having done the right things for the benefit of the country allowed for President Morales to withstand the attacks of a weaponized judiciary system and arrive at the end of his term having faithfully fulfilled his duties as the democratically elected president of the country.
Without a doubt, government institutions in several countries have been co-opted by elitist groups of liberal/leftist ideologues, unelected bureaucrats that believe that they have the supreme, albeit self-given, right to conduct the affairs of a nation in spite of duly elected authorities. Respected government institutions, led now from the shadows by a self-protecting “Deep State” of militant zealots, have been weaponized to undo the democratic will of the citizens by prevaricating and deceitfully manipulating laws and regulations against the duly and democratically elected presidents.
Coincidentally, many of the U.S. political actors plotting and leading the attacks against President Trump, illegally interfered a few years ago in Guatemala’s sovereign decisions and pushed for the appointment of leftist liberal bureaucrats to the Court and Judicial systems of Guatemala–bureaucrats who have ardently worked to strip President Morales of his Constitutional rights and duties and have participated in hundreds of impeachment attempts against him.
To cite a couple of examples, in 2017 and 2018, the leftist political establishment comprised of magistrates, judges, prosecutors, and investigators in the attorney general’s office manufactured dozens of cases to impeach President Morales for having expelled an unaccountable, overzealous, and invasive UN Investigative Commission in Guatemala. Such attempts were dismissed by Congress.
More recently in 2019, three Constitutional Court magistrates attempted to stripe President Morales of his powers over foreign policy for working on an agreement with President Trump to curve down illegal immigration coming from Guatemala and other Central American countries. Bizarrely, these three magistrates and other bureaucrats who acted against Morales were appointed into their positions by influence of U.S. diplomats and legislators over the Guatemalan legislative and judicial system and have been publicly defended by the same U.S. politicians leading and protecting all those U.S. bureaucrats plotting, leaking, lying, and prevaricating to undo Trump’s presidency.
Yet, these leftist zealots–creatures of the political swamps of the U.S. and Guatemala–would not be so apparently successful in their use of lawfare against politicians they deem threats to their plans, without the assistance of an ideologically driven press. By spreading their lies and providing them with the appearance of legitimacy and by presenting the opinions of equally biased leftist political commentators, analysts, and “experts,” this partisan press tries to manipulate public opinion against conservatives at all levels.
It is almost as if they took notes from Lenin’s strategy to weaponize the press against democracy by making it “not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses.” Ultimately, this is how the biased press has sided with the elitist, parasitic, and power-hungry left to destroy liberty and undo the will of conservative majorities.
These structured, systematic, and multi-pronged attacks against President Trump and President Morales have been made possible by the strategic placement of leftist political operatives under the cover of bureaucracy in all the institutions and agencies needed to manufacture pseudo-legal cases against them. Investigation and law enforcement agencies, foreign affairs structures, and the judiciary have been weaponized in the U.S. and in Guatemala to conduct what amounts to “legalized” coup d’etats. These are abhorrent crimes against freedom, democracy, and the will of the citizens.
The stark parallels and similarities between the political attacks on both Morales and Trump are undeniable. And even though they are up against a very loudmouthed leftist elite and a pervasively hostile media structure, they will be successful at defeating this unprecedented war against democracy.
Unfortunately, it seems like this legalized coup d’etat strategy is becoming the left’s primary weapon to unseat conservative leaders throughout the world. After the humiliating defeat of the European globalist left in the UK, it would not be surprising if a similar political attack is mounted against Boris Johnson in the coming weeks or months.
For the sake of freedom and democracy, conservatives will have to participate more aggressively in politics and in exercising social auditing of our representatives and of those bureaucrats our taxes sustain. A vast silent conservative majority will only be respected and heard by the bravery of each individual voice.
Mario Duarte is the youngest and longest serving Secretary of Strategic Intelligence to hold office in Guatemala, as well as one of the youngest intelligence chiefs in the world. He has more than 17 years of experience in the fields of intelligence, national security, consulting, and strategy development in several countries.