01/15/2024 02:42 (current 01/15/2024 02:42)
Supporters await the inauguration of the new president ©APA/AFP
The delay in the inauguration of the elected president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, is causing unrest in the country. Protesters broke through barricades on Sunday and threatened to invade Guatemala's Congress after the inauguration of representatives that morning was postponed for unclear reasons. The first session had not yet started when Arévalo's inauguration was scheduled to begin at 3 pm (local time).
Police increased their presence in the capital. The international community, including the US, is exerting strong pressure on the outgoing government to complete the transfer of power. Arévalo's party, Semilla, posted a message on social media platform X at 4pm saying that Arévalo was officially president of Guatemala, but the message was apparently deleted minutes later. A party spokesman told Portal news agency that Arévalo was in a hotel in Guatemala City. “There is no doubt” that Arévalo is the president of Guatemala, said the head of the US development aid organization, Samantha Power. She asked all sides to calm down.
Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina asked that Arévalo's inauguration be respected. He spoke on behalf of delegations present in Guatemala, including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU). “The Guatemalan people expressed their democratic will in fair, free and transparent elections, supported by the international community through its electoral observation missions. This will must be respected,” Reina wrote on the X social media platform.
Anti-corruption activist Arévalo defeated former first lady Sandra Torres by a large margin in the August elections. Arévalo had already stated before the second round that he expected attempts to prevent him from taking office if he won. Since then, the Guatemalan Attorney General's Office has repeatedly tried to discredit Arévalo's victory and prevent him from taking office: Arévalo and his elected vice-president, Karin Herrera, should have their legal immunity withdrawn, their Semilla party suspended and the election annulled. The “coup attempt,” as Arévalo calls it, brought tens of thousands of Guatemalans onto the streets. The Attorney General's Office denied that it was an attempted coup and defended the action as within the limits of Guatemalan law.
Shortly before his inauguration on Sunday, the Guatemalan Supreme Court ruled that Semilla party deputies must assume their mandate not together with their party, but as independents. This prevents their entry into Congress and weakens the new president's exercise of power. The court announced that it would reconvene at 6pm (local time).