crime

Each Saturday for five straight months, Guatemalans gathered in the capital's Plaza de la Constitución to demand the resignation of then-President Otto Pérez Molina, accused of being the mastermind behind a massive customs fraud mafia known as "La Línea." Citizens of all stripes across Guatemala joined in the demonstrations in their own cities and villages. Here's a look at that dramatic, tenacious and peaceful protest movement that since April has been inspiring the world.

GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemala's Congress accepted President Otto Pérez Molina's resignation Thursday as he appeared in court over corruption allegations following unprecedented protests that have upended the political scene, three days from elections.

GUATEMALA CITY – The faces of jubilant protesters erupting into cheers outside the Guatemalan Congress on Tuesday afternoon has become an iconic image for a Central American country’s extraordinary crusade against corruption.

On Thursday morning, President Otto Pérez Molina's defiance disintegrated as his spokesman announced that the president had stepped down after all, according to the Wall Street Journal and AFP. The spokesman said Pérez Molina was stepping down to deal "individually with the proceedings against him," reported AFP.

GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemalan Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú sees the unprecedented protests calling for the ouster of President Otto Pérez Molina as a historic moment for a country long torn by violence, poverty and inequality.

Guatemala's chief public prosecutor said Wednesday she is confident embattled President Otto Pérez Molina will be convicted of corruption, as the country's top court rejected a legal challenge by the president's attorneys to the stripping of his immunity.

A fierce opponent of Cuba's Communist regime, Posada Carriles broke his collar bone and cracked several ribs in the accident, his attorney told the Spanish-language newspaper El Nuevo Herald. Cuban officials accuse Posada Carriles of masterminding the downing of a Cuban jet off Barbados in 1976 that killed 73 people.

Otto Pérez Molina, a 64-year-old retired general, is the first president to have his immunity revoked in the Central American country's history.

The conservative president has faced mounting calls for his resignation since U.N. investigators accused him of running a massive fraud scheme at the national customs service, a scandal that has already felled his former vice president and caused nearly half his Cabinet to resign.

Karla Micheel, a member of the National Democratic Attorneys Association who represents Vera's family, told AFP that the victims were shot in the head at point-blank range with a 9mm handgun fitted with a silencer. The gun was "clean," meaning it had not been used in other crimes and was loaded with untraceable bullets, said Micheel, who has seen the investigation's report.