Guatemala: why was President Bernardo Arévalo's inauguration delayed more than 10 hours?

The president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León, was finally inaugurated in the early hours of this Monday after a marathon day full of incidents and several months of uncertainty, in which the Public Ministry (Prosecutor's Office) tried to avoid his coming to power at all costs.

The inauguration was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, but was delayed by more than 10 hours and several heads of state, including the king of Spain, Felipe VI, left the country without being able to witness the ceremony.

Felipe VI left Guatemala on Sunday night, as originally scheduled, as did the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, who had arrived a few hours earlier to accompany the Spanish delegation.

It was the same case for the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, who left the Central American nation in the afternoon since he had “commitments” in his country on Monday morning, as he indicated through his official channels.

The reasons for the delay in possession

The ceremony was delayed due to an unprecedented parliamentary day in which the outgoing deputies and then those of the new legislature engaged in debates for and against the minority Arévalo bench.

After hours of debates, the outgoing Congress declared the 23 deputies of Semilla, the new president's party, independent, arguing that they were obeying the court order that suspended the party for alleged irregularities in its creation.

But in an unexpected turn, after the new parliament was installed, Through agreements with other political parties, Semilla managed to reverse that decision. They recovered their bench and won the presidency of Congress.

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Thus, the deputy of Arévalo de León's party, Samuel Pérez Álvarez, was elected president of the Guatemalan Congress for the period 2024-2025.

Pérez Álvarez, 31 years old, became the youngest president of the Legislative Body in the history of the Central American country since the establishment of democracy in 1982.

The Lower House constituted this Sunday for the 2024-2028 legislature is very fragmented, which represents a serious obstacle to governability that the new Guatemalan head of State will have to face.

The main political force is the opposition Vamos party, which supports the outgoing president, Alejandro Giammattei, and has 39 representatives. The second parliamentary bench is that of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party, led by former presidential candidate Sandra Torres, who lost in the runoff against Bernardo Arévalo in August of last year.

Meanwhile, the Semilla Movement, Arévalo's main support, went from having six seats in the 2020-2024 legislature to 23 currently. However, Semilla's deputies are suspended from their positions by order of a criminal judge and a congressional commission, although these decisions could be voided if the new board of directors of Congress so decides and is voted on by the plenary session of the Congress. Camera.

The uncertainty surrounding Arévalo's investiture caused the representatives of the United States, the European Union, the OAS and Latin American presidents, present in Guatemala, They urged Congress to comply with the will expressed by Guatemalans at the polls.

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The wait was so long that several of the dignitaries invited to the event, such as King Felipe VI of Spain, even left Guatemala without seeing Arévalo with the presidential sash.

On the contrary, The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, assured that he would remain in Guatemala until Arévalo de León was inaugurated as the new ruler.and even left open the possibility of canceling his trip to Davos to participate in the World Economic Forum if congressional obstacles to the inauguration were not resolved.

The incidents inside the Chamber also had their reflection on the street, when dozens of adherents of Bernardo Arévalo gathered in the vicinity of Congress and they engaged in some clashes with the riot police guarding the premises, with no injuries or arrests reported.

This was the inauguration speech of the new president

Arévalo was sworn in as president months after a judicial attack attributed to his promise to combat the corrupt political elite. and economic that have controlled the destinies of the country.

Arévalo, a 65-year-old sociologist, former diplomat and philosopher, unexpectedly moved into the second presidential round in June with a conservative candidate, whom he comfortably defeated with 60 percent of the votes for his anti-corruption message.

Since then, he faced a judicial offensive that he denounced as a “coup d'état” to prevent his rise to power.

Unleashing condemnation from the international community, The Prosecutor's Office tried to withdraw Arévalo's immunity, dismantle his party and annul the electionsarguing that there were electoral anomalies.

The 65-year-old academic was finally invested as head of state after midnight at the end of a day in which the transfer of power was at risk.

This delay, according to some opposition deputies, was intended as a “coup d'état.” Arévalo de León himself had also warned about it on September 1, when he accused the prosecutor and head of the Public Prosecutor's Office (Prosecutor's Office), Consuelo Porras, of wanting to prevent his inauguration.

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The outgoing president, Alejandro Giammattei, did not appear in person at the National Theater for the transfer ceremony and sent the institutional symbols through his secretary.

His vice president, Guillermo Castillo, with whom he has been estranged since 2020, was present at the ceremony and handed over his position to biologist chemist Karin Herrera.

Giammattei sent his personal secretary to deliver the presidential sash to Congress, as confirmed by several sources, and similarly expressed that he would not be at the new president's inauguration.

“Given the risk of arriving at midnight without starting the formal acts, at this moment I presented the symbols of the Presidency to the Congress of Guatemala,” the outgoing president stated through his official communication channels.

Guatemalan law stipulates that the president had to leave office this Sunday, after assuming his duties four years ago, on January 14, 2020, at the beginning of his period as ruler.

Giammattei made a final delivery of his final government report last Friday, despite the fact that since democracy was established in 1986, all the presidents who say goodbye have attended Congress on January 14 to be replaced.

Thus, Arévalo de Léon received the presidential sash from the president of Congress, Samuel Pérez Álvarez, also elected to office this Sunday, due to Giammattei's absence.

Arévalo entered the Miguel Ángel Asturias National Theater, where the investiture ceremony took place, to the sound of the concert for violin and orchestra “La Primavera”, by the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi.

The newly inaugurated president has promised the arrival of a “new spring”, like the one led by the Government of his father, Juan José Arévalo Bermejo, between 1946 and 1951, in one of the most developed Administrations for the Central American country.

Accompanied by his wife, Lucrecia Peinadothe president walked in the middle of the theater venue amidst applause and smiles, despite the more than ten hours delay of the ceremony.

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In his inauguration speech, the new president of Guatemala promised to rescue his country's institutions from “corruption” and “impunity.” “We will not allow our institutions to bow again to corruption and impunity,” he said at the solemn ceremony.

“The political crisis from which we are emerging offers us the unique opportunity to build a robust and healthy democratic institutionality, on the rubble of this wall of corruption that we began to tear down, one by one, brick by brick,” he stated.

With music and dancing, waving flags, thousands of Arévalo's followers celebrated in the Plaza de la Constitución, in front of the National Palace, from whose balcony the new president greeted them this morning.

“Never again will authoritarianism,” said Arévalo, noting that Guatemala is fighting against “authoritarian phenomena such as the corrupt co-option of institutions.”

“Do not leave us alone, we will not give up,” he cried to the international community.

Analysts warn that the hardest thing is yet to come given the enormous expectations of the people and the foreseeable continuation of the Prosecutor's offensive.

Arévalo said that this week he will ask Attorney General Consuelo Porras, at the head of the judicial offensive and sanctioned by Washington for “corruption” and for “undermining democracy,” to resign. But a resignation by Porras is unlikely, according to analysts.

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In his speech, Arévalo said he recognized the “historic debt” with indigenous communities and promised to develop investments in basic services such as health, education and housing.

After his inauguration, he addressed a gathering of hundreds of indigenous people outside the Prosecutor's Office to thank them for their support. “We are going to work to end the history of marginalization and exclusion.”

The Guatemala that Arévalo inherits ranks 30th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's corruption ranking and with 60% of its 17.8 million inhabitants in poverty, one of the highest rates in Latin America.

EFE AND AFP