1 of 2 Supporters of Presidentelect Bernardo Arévalo gather at Constitution Square in Guatemala City. Photo: Portal Supporters of elected President Bernardo Arévalo gather at Constitution Square in Guatemala City. — Photo: Portal
Bernardo Arévalo, the new president of Guatemala, was sworn in early Monday (15) after almost nine hours of delay. He took office after a chaotic day in the country, with controversial policies in Congress and protests from supporters.
Arévalo becomes president after winning the August elections by a significant margin. Despite the positive result, he faced resistance from several prosecutors linked to the previous government.
A week after his victory, prosecutors filed a lawsuit to try to suspend the party for which he was elected, which would mean ending his support in the Legislature.
2 of 2 Tensions in Congress delay Arévalo's inauguration as president of Guatemala. Photo: Portal Tensions in Congress delay Arévalo's inauguration as president of Guatemala. — Photo: Portal
Prosecutors x new president
Arévalo, a 65yearold sociologist, former diplomat and philosopher, surprisingly made it into last year's presidential election, where he ran against a conservative candidate allied with the government. He won with 60% of the vote in a campaign with anticorruption messages.
Since then, Arévalo has faced a judicial offensive that he denounced as a “coup d'etat” involving the political and economic elite that has ruled the country for decades.
The State Department sought to remove his immunity as presidentelect, dissolve his progressive party and annul the election due to voting irregularities.
The attack was condemned by the United Nations, the OAS, the European Union and the United States, which sanctioned hundreds of prosecutors, judges and lawmakers for “corruption” and “undermining democracy.”
The Guatemala that Arévalo inherits ranks 30th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's corruption rankings and has 60% of its 17.8 million residents living in poverty, one of the highest rates in Latin America.