Guatemala’s Arevalo to take office despite efforts to block him

Arevalo has repeatedly denounced a ‘slow-motion coup d’etat’ against him – Copyright AFP/File Johan ORDONEZ

Bernardo Arevalo is due to be sworn in on Sunday as Guatemala’s president after warding off months of judicial machinations to block him from office after his vow to clamp down on deep-rooted corruption.

The 65-year-old lawmaker, ex-diplomat and sociologist pulled off a major upset when he swept from obscurity to win elections last August, firing up voters weary of graft in one of Latin America’s poorest nations.

He has faced a constant barrage of attempts to impede him from taking office — at the hands of graft-accused prosecutors closely aligned with the country’s political and economic ruling class.

Arevalo has repeatedly denounced a “slow-motion coup d’etat.”

Backed by the United States, European Union, Latin American countries and international organizations including the United Nations, Arevalo is due to replace Alejandro Giammattei.

Under Giammattei, several prosecutors fighting graft have been arrested or forced into exile. Rights groups also accused him of cracking down on critical journalists.

He was also accused of propping up attorney general Consuelo Porras, heading the campaign against the newcomer alongside senior prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and Judge Fredy Orellana.

All three are listed as corrupt and undemocratic by the US Justice Department.

Prosecutors have tried to overturn the election results, strip Arevalo of immunity from prosecution, and his Semilla (Seed) party has had its registration suspended on fraud allegations widely seen as trumped up.

– ‘Uncle Bernie’ –

Guatemala is ranked 30th out of 180 countries by Transparency International, which lists nations from most to least corrupt.

It is also one of Latin America’s most unequal countries, a reality that has, along with high rates of violent crime, compelled hundreds of thousands to risk the perilous migrant journey to the United States in hopes of a better life.

Arevalo is the son of reformist Juan Jose Arevalo, who in 1945 became Guatemala’s first democratically elected president after decades of dictatorship.

He was trailing far behind in opinion polls before the election, but fired up the youth, who dubbed him “Uncle Bernie” and spread his messages and press conferences on TikTok. 

He also won the backing of the country’s historically marginalized Indigenous population, which led sustained protests against the prosecutors’ attempts to block Arevalo from office.

– ‘Rebuilding democracy’ –

The chess-playing, jazz-loving polyglot is facing a tricky task ruling Guatemala.

To start with, he inherits an attorney general who “attacked and criminalized” him and “threatened democracy to a degree we had not thought possible,” said Edie Cux of Citizen Action, a local version of Transparency International.

“They will have the president ambushed. At the slightest misstep they will want to lift his immunity… and remove him,” added her colleague Manfrendo Marroquin.

Arevalo himself has acknowledged there would be “difficulties, since these political-criminal elites, at least for a time, will continue to be entrenched in some branches of the State.”

The new president would also have to deal with a deeply fragmented Congress.

“He will have to address their concerns. But you cannot expect him to come with a magic wand. His most important and urgent task is rebuilding democracy,” former Human Rights Commissioner Jordan Rodas told AFP.