Guatemalan demonstrators outraged by corruption will gather in protest Saturday on the eve of elections that have been upended by the resignation and jailing of disgraced ex-president Otto Perez. Some protesters planned to dress in black and carry cardboard coffins, calling the day's rally an "electoral burial." "We mourn because we believe that the elections are a dead process, with no reform and with a number of candidates involved in corruption and court issues," Isabel Juarez, 45, told AFP.
The rally follows on the heels of protests Friday, when hundreds of demonstrators - mostly indigenous Guatemalans - railed against Perez outside his hearing at the Supreme Court, where prosecutors continued detailing their case against him. Many of the demonstrators are calling for Sunday's elections to be postponed until sweeping reforms can be implemented. Perez, who submitted his resignation to Congress late Wednesday, will spend the weekend in jail, after the hearing was adjourned until Tuesday.