Bernardo Arévalo (Montevideo, 65 years old) is finally president of Guatemala. The president was sworn in in a ceremony at the Miguel Ángel Asturias Cultural Center that began around midnight after a long day in Congress that involved a nine-hour delay and lasted more than twelve hours and in which some deputies staged a show of how the forces that the president has denounced for months as attempts to prevent his inauguration are operating.
The attempt by some MPs to torpedo the transfer of command was immediately publicly denounced by the international delegations accompanying the new president. However, the long delay led to some guests leaving the theater before the swearing-in, such as the King of Spain, who left the theater after half past ten, or the Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who apologized by saying that he had to be in return to the country.
Arévalo received the presidential sash and the key to the Constitution from a young deputy of his party, Samuel Pérez, who at 31 is already in his second term and has managed to be elected President of the Congress in a major victory for the ruling party. She received the necessary support despite the fact that the Semilla movement is the third force in the chamber. After reaching the agreement to form the executive board after 10:30 p.m., the congressmen took the bus to the cultural center to continue the session and swear in the president and vice president Karin Herrera.
The new executive board of the Congress takes office this Sunday in Guatemala. Norvin Mendoza (EFE)
“Today we are making history as a nation. To answer that call, we have a plan. Without social justice there can be no democracy, and without democracy social justice cannot prevail,” Arévalo said in his first speech as president. In it, he highlighted the role of the Guatemalan people, the international community and institutions such as the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) and the Constitutional Court in fulfilling the “desire of Guatemalans to live in democracy.”
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, the son of former Guatemalan President Juan José Arévalo (1945-1951), the new president surprisingly won the August elections with a promise to fight the corruption that is corroding everything in Guatemala and to fight authoritarianism There has been a boom in recent years. It won't be easy when part of the judiciary is against it and a minority rules in Congress.
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Parliament in particular became the protagonist of the day. What should have been a five-hour protocol act for the swearing-in of the deputies and the appointment of the board was extended for more than twelve hours, between delays that were considered malicious and brawls between deputies that even forced the Court to intervene. Constitutionality.
While Congress expressed uncertainty and even doubt as to whether it had finally managed to complete a necessary procedure for Arévalo's investiture before midnight, as required by law, tension grew in the streets and among the international delegations arriving in Guatemala to support Arévalo to accompany the command during the transfer.
The citizens, who arrived from early morning in central points of the capital to take part in the celebrations planned in the Plaza de la Constitución, moved to the area surrounding the Congress to demand that the deputies do their work and in Arévalo invest. how the citizens decided in the election. For their part, the indigenous movements, which have been holding a sit-in in front of the Ministry of State for 105 days to defend democracy in the face of judicial attacks and attempts to invalidate the elections, expressed themselves in the same spirit and made a protest call to the population of other territories to mobilize if necessary.
Currently international complaint
“MPs have a responsibility to respect the will of the people expressed during the elections. They try to violate democracy with illegalities, petty things and abuse of power,” warned Arévalo after 4 p.m., when he saw his swearing-in ceremony blocked by congressmen. “The Guatemalan people and the international community are watching.” The president spent hours of waiting and uncertainty at a hotel in Zone 10 of the capital, where his international guests were also present, growing increasingly concerned about attempts to derail the inauguration . The complaints and warnings from her didn't take long to arrive.
A woman marches to the Plaza de la Constitución to demand that the inauguration of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo be guaranteed this Sunday. Welcome Velasco (EFE)
One of the most forceful people to publicly condemn what happened was Colombia's President Gustavo Petro. “The prosecutor's office was the initiator of a coup. “Congress has made it difficult for the president-elect to take office,” the president wrote on his social network account X – formerly Twitter. And he said he would not leave the country until Arévalo was sworn in as president, even if that meant missing a trip to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum. The Colombian president is in line with Arévalo's anti-corruption message, particularly given his closeness to his defense minister, Iván Velásquez, who chaired Guatemala's International Commission Against Impunity (CICIG) before his expulsion from the country.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric also showed his support for Arévalo, criticizing the “recent crude attempts by some sectors” to prevent him from taking office. The President was one of those who could not accompany his counterpart at the swearing-in ceremony because he had to return to his country to fulfill his obligations. “I leave with the certainty that Guatemala and Bernardo Arévalo know that they have an ally in Chile and in our government for the democratic construction of a more just society,” he said.
The international delegations present in Guatemala also signed a document in support of the president and democracy, which was read by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, in the presence of Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares. the Chancellor of Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, the President of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, the Vice President of Brazil, Geraldo Alckmin, or the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. The latter also warned against proposing to EU member states “the use of individual restrictive measures against members of Congress that prevent the transfer of powers.”
While Congress witnessed the latest attempts to derail the results of the elections that have gripped part of the country in recent months, the peaceful spirit of Guatemalans in their resolute defense of democracy could be felt on the streets demonstrated. The Plaza de la Constitución, a symbol of the new government since it was the place where the Semilla movement was born in the heat of the anti-corruption protests of 2015, was full of citizens who waited patiently for hours, celebrating and dancing to the rhythm concerts planned by the investiture and finally, around 12:30 at night, they breathed a sigh of relief and shouted, “Yes, we could.”
Arévalo supporters will celebrate his inauguration this Sunday in the Plaza de la Constitución. Welcome Velasco (EFE)