Guatemala's incoming president Bernardo Arévalo takes the oath of workplace throughout his swearing-in ceremony in Guatemala Metropolis, Monday, January 15, 2024.
Moises Castillo/AP
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Moises Castillo/AP
Guatemala's incoming president Bernardo Arévalo takes the oath of workplace throughout his swearing-in ceremony in Guatemala Metropolis, Monday, January 15, 2024.
Moises Castillo/AP
GUATEMALA CITY – Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala's president on Monday, minutes after midnight, regardless of months of efforts to derail his inauguration, together with foot-dragging and rising tensions till the switch of the facility
Arévalo involves the presidency after successful the August elections by a cushty margin. However nothing has been easy since, with Lawyer Basic Consuelo Porras and observers of the institution forces saying it represents one authorized problem after one other to Arévalo and his occasion.
“It fills me with deep honor to imagine this excessive duty, displaying that our democracy has the mandatory energy to withstand and that by unity and belief we are able to change the political panorama in Guatemala,” mentioned Arévalo in his first speech as president.
He summarized the tenet of his administration as: “There isn’t a democracy with out social justice and social justice can’t prevail with out democracy.”
Regardless of a whole bunch of Arévalo supporters pressuring lawmakers to comply with the structure, even clashing with riot police outdoors the congressional constructing on Sunday, the inauguration course of dragged on for hours earlier than he took the oath of workplace. workplace shortly after midnight.
A progressive tutorial turned politician and the son of a Guatemalan president credited with implementing key social reforms within the mid-Twentieth century, Arévalo took workplace with the expectation of tackling Guatemala's entrenched corruption. Nevertheless it received't be simple.
He has little help in Congress and Porras' time period, as the highest legislation enforcement officer runs till 2026, though Arévalo mentioned one in all his first orders of enterprise will probably be to ask for his resignation
Supporters waited hours for a festive inauguration celebration in Guatemala Metropolis's iconic Plaza de la Constitucion and grew weary of one other delay, practically brushing apart police earlier than gathering outdoors Congress, demanding that the legislators cease delaying and appoint the delegation that ought to attend the occasion. ceremony
A supporter of Guatemala's president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo, celebrates as lawmakers voted for a member of the Seed Motion to be their new president of Congress, Samuel Perez, as a part of the method earlier than the ceremony of Arévalo's oath, outdoors the Nationwide Palace in Guatemala Metropolis, on Sunday. January 14, 2024.
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A supporter of Guatemala's president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo, celebrates as lawmakers voted for a member of the Seed Motion to be their new president of Congress, Samuel Perez, as a part of the method earlier than the ceremony of Arévalo's oath, outdoors the Nationwide Palace in Guatemala Metropolis, on Sunday. January 14, 2024.
Santiago Billy/AP
“If he doesn't swear to him, we the individuals will swear to him,” mentioned one of many protesters, Dina Juc, the mayor of the indigenous village of Utatlàn Sololá.
Congress, which was presupposed to attend the inauguration as a particular session of the legislature, engaged in a bitter inner battle over who to acknowledge as a part of the congressional delegation, as members they shouted to one another.
The management fee tasked with doing this was stuffed with outdated opponents of Arévalo, and the delay was seen as a tactic to tug out the inauguration and weaken Arévalo.
Arévalo wrote in his social accounts that “they’re attempting to wreck democracy with illegality, inconsequential particulars and abuse of energy”.
The representatives of the federal government of the USA and the Group of American States requested the congress to respect the structure of Guatemala.
Minutes earlier than midnight, the particular session of Congress was known as into session.
Porras had tried each authorized trick within the ebook to get Arévalo on trial or in jail earlier than he may take workplace. And Arévalo's occasion doesn’t have a majority in Congress and can’t but have formal recognition there.
Arévalo is an educational, diplomat and the son of a progressive president from the center of the Twentieth century, and his election marked a political awakening in a inhabitants bored with corruption and impunity.
“I really feel excited, as a result of we’re lastly reaching the top of this lengthy and torturous course of,” mentioned Arévalo earlier than his inauguration. “Guatemalan society has developed the willpower to say 'no' to those political-criminal elites.”
However as a lot as Arévalo needs to vary issues, he faces monumental obstacles. His anti-corruption stance and outsider standing are threats to entrenched pursuits within the Central American nation, observers say.
Nonetheless, the truth that he has come this far is proof of the worldwide help and the condemnation of the myriad makes an attempt to disqualify him.
For a lot of Guatemalans, the inauguration represented not solely the fruits of Arévalo's victory on the polls, but additionally his profitable protection of the nation's democracy.
What Arévalo did inside a day of his inauguration was largely resulting from hundreds of indigenous individuals of Guatemala, who took to the streets final 12 months to protest and demand that Porras and his prosecutors respect the vote of August 20 . Many had known as for her resignation, however her time period doesn’t finish till 2026 and it’s not clear if Arévalo can do away with her.
Prosecutors sought to question Arévalo's Seed Motion occasion—a transfer that would stop its lawmakers from holding management positions in Congress—and strip Arévalo of his immunity 3 times.
On Friday, his alternative for vp, Karin Herrera, introduced that the Constitutional Courtroom had granted him an injunction towards an alleged arrest warrant. She was additionally sworn in on Monday.
Prosecutors mentioned that the Seed Motion engaged in wrongdoing in amassing signatures to register as a celebration years in the past, that its leaders inspired a month-long occupation of a public college, and that there was fraud within the election. Worldwide observers denied this.
A key was that Arévalo had early and powerful help from the worldwide group. The European Union, the Group of American States and the USA authorities have repeatedly known as for the respect of the favored vote.
Washington went additional, sanctioning Guatemalan officers and personal residents suspected of undermining the nation's democracy.
On Thursday, the assistant secretary of state of the USA for the Western Hemisphere, Brian A. Nichols, mentioned that the aggression in direction of Arévalo will most likely not cease along with his inauguration.
