Workers Struggles: The Americas Latin America Guatemalan government imposes “state of prevention” in response to protests Guatemala’s president Alejandro Giammattei announced July 12 that the government was going to impose a “state of prevention” from July 14-28. The announcement followed protests demanding his resignation for his mishandling of the pandemic and lack of vaccinations. On July 10, about 300 protesters had gathered in the capital Guatemala City’s Constitution Plaza to denounce corruption and demand Giammattei’s resignation. In announcing the state of prevention, the president tried to shift the blame for the pandemic onto the protesters, saying, “My complaint is against those people who are promoting the virus and who become more upset. .. and they are promoting it through a series of illegal demonstrations.”