In April-September 2015, Guatemala experienced peaceful mass protests (“Renuncia Ya” - Resign Now) that forced President Otto Pérez Molina’s resignation and arrest on corruption charges—a rare victory for anti-corruption activism in Central America, though subsequent governments dismantled reform mechanisms.

The UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) uncovered “La Línea” customs fraud scheme involving President Pérez Molina and VP Roxana Baldetti, stealing millions. CICIG’s April 2015 revelations sparked Saturday protests in Guatemala City’s Plaza de la Constitución—tens of thousands demanding resignations.

Protests united across class lines: Maya indigenous communities, urban middle class, students, and business sectors. Demonstrators peacefully occupied plazas, waved Guatemalan flags, and chanted anti-corruption slogans. Baldetti resigned May 8; Pérez Molina resisted until Congress stripped immunity September 1—he resigned and was jailed the next day.

Jimmy Morales won subsequent elections on anti-corruption platform, but by 2017 turned against CICIG when it investigated his family. In 2019, he expelled CICIG from Guatemala, ending the UN mission. Subsequent President Alejandro Giammattei continued anti-CICIG stance, appointing allies to attorney general positions and persecuting anti-corruption judges and prosecutors—forcing many into exile.

The 2015 uprising achieved tactical victory (ousting a president) but strategic defeat (corruption systems remained, reformers were expelled/exiled). It demonstrated mass mobilization’s power but also elite resilience in re-capturing institutions.

Sources: The Guardian, BBC Mundo, Al Jazeera, Washington Office on Latin America, Plaza Pública