Guatemala Inaugurates Leftist President After Chaotic Nine-Hour Delay

Guatemala inaugurated leftist President Bernardo Arévalo in the early morning hours of Monday following a series of delays, squabbles, and confusion in Congress. The inauguration was scheduled to take place on Sunday.

Arévalo, who succeeded conservative President Alejandro Giammattei, began his term vowing to “rescue” Guatemala from corruption as his political party, the Semilla Movement, faces an investigation by the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office that resulted in the party’s disqualification from politics in November. As a result, its recently-inaugurated lawmakers took office on Sunday as independents.

Arévalo’s inauguration was delayed by over nine hours due to discussions pertaining to the accreditation process for Semilla’s new lawmakers given the legal situation, as those lawmakers have the responsibility of swearing in the new president.

Following hours of negotiations, the Guatemalan Congress agreed to rescind Semilla’s suspension, allowing its lawmakers to be seated as a legislative bloc. Samuel Pérez, a Semilla lawmaker, was sworn in as the new head of Congress.

The delay in Arévalo’s swearing-in prompted scuffles between supporters of the leftist president and the Guatemalan police outside the premises of the nation’s Legislative Palace, located in Guatemala City.

Several regional leftist heads of state and governments issued statements urging the Guatemalan Congress to proceed with Arévalo’s swearing-in, such as the Chilean and Peruvian governments. Colombia’s far-left President Gustavo Petro, who attended the inauguration, threatened not to leave until Arévalo was sworn in. 

USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who led the American delegation, pressured the Guatemalan Congress to swear in Arévalo.

Similarly, the European Union and the Organization of American States (OAS) issued statements that urged the Guatemalan Congress to proceed with the inauguration.

“Gathered in Guatemala City for the presidential inauguration, we call on the Congress of the Republic to comply with its constitutional mandate to hand over power as required by the constitution today to President-elect Bernardo Arévalo and Vice President-elect Karin Herrera,” OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said.

Following his swearing in, which technically took place on Monday, Arévalo gave a roughly 25-minute-long speech in which he thanked his supporters for the trust placed in him, stressing that he and his government “will not allow our institutions to bow to corruption and impunity.” 

“Never again authoritarianism. We will never allow violence to be used as a means to promote political agendas or preserve privileges,” Arévalo said.

The recently inaugurated president warned, “The world is being confronted by a wave of authoritarianism, the spread of intolerance and the restriction of dissent,” without naming examples.

“We are facing new authoritarian phenomena such as the corrupt co-optation of state institutions by criminal groups that exploit their democratic appearance to betray the principles of freedom, equity, and justice,” he continued, stressing that Guatemala is allegedly struggling against these new forms of authoritarianism and to preserve democracy.

“Do not leave us alone; we will not give up,” he said.

Arévalo, son of former President Juan José Arévalo (1945-1951), successfully ran as an “outsider” candidate for the Semilla Movement party in last year’s elections on a campaign prioritizing the fight against corruption. The president’s victory came as a surprise, as all polls released prior to the first round of the 2023 election suggested that he would not obtain more than three percent of the vote. The first round of the election, held in June, saw over 20 candidates running and more people cast “null” (invalid) votes than the total for any single candidate. Arévalo then defeated leftist former first lady and first-round frontrunner Sandra Torres in August’s presidential runoff election by a nearly 20-percent margin.

Supporters have given Arévalo, a socialist, the nickname “Uncle Bernie” in reference to both his name and his socialist policies that resemble U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Arévalo and Vice President Karin Herrera for their inaugurations in a statement published on Monday morning.

“We look forward to working with President Arévalo and his administration to deepen our countries’ long and productive partnership and promote economic prosperity, human rights, good governance, anti-corruption measures, and safe and orderly migration,” the statement read.

Arévalo stated in December that one of his first actions as president will be to ask for Attorney General Consuelo Porras’s resignation. Porras was sanctioned by the United States in 2022, standing accused of having obstructed and undermined anti-corruption investigations in Guatemala to protect her political allies and gain undue political favor. 

Porras had presented a request to strip Arévalo of his immunity in November, accusing Arévalo of having participated in the occupation of the state university campus in 2022. Arévalo had denounced the move as part of an “ongoing coup d’état” that sought to prevent him from taking office.

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Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.