Guatemala's Bernardo Arévalo Sworn In After Hours-Long Opposition Delay

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Facts

  • Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala's president for a four-year term minutes after midnight on Monday, over nine hours behind schedule, following a tense legislative session in which outgoing and incoming deputies engaged in debates for and against his minority Semilla Movement.1
  • This comes as a judicial ruling ordered Semilla's elected lawmakers to assume their positions as independents instead of representatives of the party. Ultimately, they managed to reverse the decision with the support of other parties and win the presidency of the new Congress.2
  • Meanwhile, hundreds of Arévalo's supporters gathered outside the Congress building in Guatemala City to demand legislators stop hampering the start of the legislative session to swear in new lawmakers — some fighting with riot police — after waiting hours for an inaugural celebration in Plaza de la Constitución.3
  • The hours-long inauguration delay was seen as a strategy to protract the ceremony and weaken the incoming president, especially because the leadership commission in charge of the special session was full of his traditional opponents.4
  • Since winning the Aug. 20 presidential vote, the progressive former academic — whose father was also president — and his party have faced several legal challenges from establishment forces and Attorney General Consuelo Porras that could have prevented him from taking office.5
  • On Dec. 14, the Constitutional Court upheld the results of the election, ruling that Arévalo and the other elected officials had to take office on Jan. 14. Meanwhile, the US and EU imposed sanctions on Porras and others allegedly trying to block the transition of power.6

Sources: 1Voz Media, 2Peoples Dispatch, 3Time, 4FOX News, 5NPR Online News and 6Al Jazeera.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Washington Post. With the decisive support of the Biden administration as well as of the European Union, democratic forces in Guatemala thwarted the slow-motion, legal coup to prevent Arévalo from being sworn in, which had been underway since his unexpected electoral victory. Now that Guatemala's corrupt political elites are finally out of power, cooperation to address drug trafficking and the migrant crisis may thrive.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Impunity Observer. It's outrageous and disturbing, though not surprising, that the Biden administration has sided with Arévalo even in the face of serious allegations against his Semilla Movement — including accusations of forging signatures to register as a party and engaging in money laundering, as well as claims of electoral fraud. If anything, America has enabled undemocratic forces to win in Guatemala.

Predictions