GUATEMALA CITY – President Bernardo Arevalo appointed Gabriel Estuardo Garcia Luna, a former judge and university professor, as Guatemala’s new attorney general, he announced in a national address on May 5.
The move follows last month’s Constitutional Court intervention, which froze the selection process and ordered a review after the initial shortlist excluded current Attorney General Consuelo Porras, Arevalo’s key adversary sanctioned by the US, Canada and EU for alleged corruption and election interference.
Porras, who has denied the accusations, was omitted from a revised list approved by a committee of jurists and submitted to Arevalo for final selection.
“This is a time to learn from our history. Justice has all too often been a tool of revenge. It is time to leave that past behind,” Arevalo said, calling it a “new chapter” and urging Garcia – currently a criminal adviser in the prosecutor’s office, to prioritize impartial justice over political interests.
Arevalo stressed the attorney general must serve the Guatemalan people, not any president or faction. Garcia will assume the role on May 17.