Guatemala fights for its democracy

The country's future is on the line as its new president battles a corrupt political establishment backed by a powerful Church

– By Jody García –
Thursday, 26th September 2024



Credit: Alamy
Feliciana Herrera, Indigenous leader of the Ixil people in Guatemala, will always remember spending weeks – both day and night, through sunshine and pouring rain – protesting outside the headquarters of the Guatemalan Public Ministry. This was the end of 2023, and she was there with thousands of others to demand the peaceful transfer of power to the newly elected president, Bernardo Arévalo, and the resignation of the attorney general, Consuelo Porras, who was seeking to block it. Porras’s efforts sparked three months of peaceful demonstrations. Day after day, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets, blocking key roads across the country and causing fuel and food shortages in some areas. Thousands of workers, including teachers and market vendors, went on strike, sending the country into a partial shutdown. But this was a pivotal moment for Guatemala’s democracy. “He [Arévalo] was the [only] hope that we had left after so much impunity and inequality,” Herrera explained.

A 65-year-old sociologist, diplomat and former congressman, Bernardo is the son of Juan José Arévalo, the first democratically elected president of Guatemala, who led the country after it emerged from dictatorship in 1944. Bernardo’s social democratic Semilla party – which translates as “Seed” – won the election in August 2023 on an outsider’s campaign focused on communicating directly with voters through social media and promising to fight corruption.

It’s an ambitious goal. The last three presidents of Guatemala have all been linked to corruption – from nepotism to bribery and diversion of public funds. Last year, former president Otto Pérez Molina was sentenced to eight years in prison for running a smuggling scheme through customs. His successor, Jimmy Morales, led the dismantling of the office that investigated corruption. Arévalo’s predecessor, Alejandro Giammattei, along with Attorney General Porras, was sanctioned by the US, which added them to its list of “Corrupt and Undemocratic Actors” in Central America. Despite this, in 2022 Porras was re-elected to serve as attorney general until 2026.

It was a shock when Arévalo won the elections. But the political establishment isn’t taking this challenge lying down. In Guatemala, the transition between governments lasts five months. During this time Arévalo was fiercely attacked by Porras, who requested the arrests of members of Semilla, raided the offices of the electoral tribunal and tried to get the elections declared null. Powerful evangelical churches allied with the former government also campaigned against Arévalo’s candidacy, spreading false rumours that he intended to liberalise abortion and introduce same-sex marriage.

Arévalo has pulled through, surviving his first six months. But without a majority in Congress and with vast challenges against him, it has not been easy. While the world’s eyes were on him after the vote, the attention has now moved away, and his popularity is declining among the people. Is he making the progress he promised, or has he already made too many compromises? And will he ever be able to dismiss Porras – the woman behind so much oppression, and so many backhand deals – who remains attorney general even under a presidency she tried to block? The stakes are high for Guatemala. If Arévalo fails, the country’s democracy may not survive.

More:
https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/6334/guatemala-fights-for-its-democracy