Despite staunch resistance from his government opponents, anti-corruption crusader Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala’s president early Monday morning, a turning point in a country where tensions simmer over widespread corruption and impunity.
His inauguration was scheduled for Sunday, but members of Congress delayed it and concerns persisted about whether that would happen. But after an international outcry and pressure from protesters, Arévalo was sworn in shortly after midnight, becoming Guatemala’s most progressive head of state since democracy was re-established in the 1980s.
His rise to power – six months after his victory at the polls delivered a stunning rebuke to Guatemala’s conservative political establishment – amounts to a sea change in Central America’s most populous country. His landslide election reflects broad support for his proposals to curb corruption and revive a shaky democracy.
But as Arévalo prepares to govern, he must assert control by facing an alliance of conservative prosecutors, members of Congress and other political figures who have gutted Guatemala’s government institutions in recent years.
“Arévalo has the most thankless job in Guatemala today because he comes with exceptionally high expectations,” said Edgar Ortíz Romero, an expert on Guatemalan constitutional law. “He was given a budget for a Toyota while people want a Ferrari.”
Arévalo’s opponents in Congress moved to rein him in late last year, passing a budget that would severely limit his ability to spend on health care and education, two of his top priorities.
But finding resources to spend is just one of the difficulties facing Mr. Arévalo. Even more urgently, as his opponents in Congress demonstrated again on Sunday, he faces multiple challenges from Guatemala’s entrenched establishment aimed at rapidly crippling his ability to govern.
The ongoing power struggle in Guatemala, a nation of 18 million, is being followed closely across Central America, a region under tension due to the growing influence of drug cartels, an exodus of migrants and use of authoritarian tactics in neighboring countries such as El Salvador. and Nicaragua.
“This is a unique event in the history of the country,” said Javier García, a 31-year-old engineer, who was among the thousands of people who came to celebrate the inauguration in the capital, Guatemala City. “Now I hope that those who lost the elections will understand this once and for all.”
The transition of power was anything but orderly. After bursting onto Guatemala’s political scene last year, Mr. Arévalo faced a assassination plothis party Suspension and a barrage of legal attacks aimed at preventing him from taking office. His opponent in the presidential race, the former first lady, refused to acknowledge his victory.
In the capital, speculation has spread in recent days that prosecutors would seek the arrest of Arévalo’s vice president, Karin Herrera, potentially derailing the inauguration because both the president-elect and vice president-elect must be present for the transfer of power to the elected president. be legitimate.
Guatemala’s highest court issued a order last week he protected Ms. Herrera from arrest, giving her and Mr. Arévalo a reprimand. But the same court sowed confusion on Sunday when it allowed his conservative opponents to remain in the race to keep control of Congress.
Members of Congress opposed to Arévalo then spent hours trying to consolidate their control of the House, effectively delaying the transfer of power as much of the country remained trapped. But on Sunday evening, in a twist, Arévalo’s party managed to win the leadership of Congress, paving the way for the swearing-in.
Prosecutors and judges opposed to Mr. Arévalo had already launched a judicial attack immediately after the national elections. Seeking to cast doubt on Arévalo’s victory at the polls, where he won by more than 20 percentage points, prosecutors obtained arrest warrants for four magistrates serving in Guatemala’s top electoral authority, accused of corruption in the takeover of electoral software. The four magistrates were all outside the country at the time the warrants were issued.
Thursday, the attorney general’s office arrested Napoleón Barrientos, former Minister of the Interior, on the grounds that in October he had refused to use force to maintain order against protesters who were demanding the resignation of the Attorney General.
Similar initiatives have become common in Guatemala since 2019, when conservative political figures blocked a pioneering United Nations-backed anti-corruption mission. Dozens of prosecutors and judges who had attempted to take charge of the corruption have fled exile.
In pushback, the United States, the European Union and numerous Latin American leaders expressed their support for Arévalo, a sociologist and former diplomat. This support was visible on Sunday, when delays appeared to cast doubt on the transfer of power.
“There is no doubt that Bernardo Arévalo is the president of Guatemala,” She said Samantha Power, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, who led a U.S. delegation to the inauguration. She added: “The world is watching.”
The Biden administration maneuvered for months to support Arévalo after he shocked many in Guatemala, including members of his own party, by appearing in a runoff election that he then resoundingly won.
Washington’s support for reforms contrasts with the role it played in Guatemala decades ago. The United States supported the Guatemalan army during a long and brutal civil war; a 1980s military dictator was later convicted of genocide for attempting to exterminate the Ixil, a Mayan Indian people. In 1954, the CIA staged a coup that overthrew a popular and democratically elected president, Jacobo Arbenz.
Subsequently, Mr. Arévalo’s father, Juan José Arévalo, former president who is still admired in Guatemala for allowing free speech and creating the social security system, spent years in exile in Latin America.
The young Arévalo, a soft-spoken sociologist and diplomat, was born in Uruguay around that time and grew up in Venezuela, Mexico and Chile before the family was able to return to Guatemala.
As efforts to block Arévalo from taking office intensified last month, the United States imposed sanctions on Miguel Martínez, one of the closest allies of outgoing president Alejandro Giammattei, for widespread muggings.
And in a crucial move, American authorities did so in December imposed visa restrictions for nearly 300 Guatemalans, including more than 100 members of Congress, accused of undermining democracy and the rule of law as they sought to undermine Arévalo and prevent him from taking office.
“US pressure prevented a coup; without this we wouldn’t be here,” said Manfredo Marroquín, head of Citizen Action, an anti-corruption political group. “Americans are like insurance: there in times of crisis.”
However, US support for Arévalo revealed rifts in Guatemala. In his last weeks in office, Giammattei, who by law could not stand for re-election, became increasingly explicit in his criticism of American sanctions and international support for Mr. Arévalo.
Another blow to Mr. Arévalo, to Mr. Giammattei withdrawn Guatemala from an anti-drug task force created in 2020 with the United States. This move could weaken Guatemala’s ability to fight drug trafficking groups, which are expanding their influence in the country.
At the same time, Arévalo’s efforts to forge alliances have revealed how difficult it will be for him to govern. This month he announced the first Guatemalan cabinet in which women would account for half of all ministerial posts, but the celebration of that milestone was short-lived.
A member of a major business association was appointed to the new cabinet, sparking beliefs that Arévalo, who has espoused centrist policies, was moving to the right. Another cabinet candidate with Drew after old comments surfaced of him criticizing a prominent Indigenous activist.
Outrage also arose because only one minister in his cabinet was indigenous, despite the crucial role indigenous groups played in protesting attempts to block Arévalo from taking office. Nearly half of Guatemala’s population is indigenous.
“There is an expectation that this new government will be different,” said Sandra Xinico, an anthropologist and indigenous activist. “But we have seen once again how indigenous peoples are excluded from the political process.”
