Guatemala's new president to ask for society's help in face of opposition from entrenched powers
ABC News
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo says that with his political party suspended, little support in congress and an attorney general in hot pursuit, he will appeal to the country's people to help him overcome the entrenched old guard and achieve the ...
GUATEMALA CITY -- President Bernardo Arévalo said Thursday that with his political party suspended, little support in congress and an attorney general in hot pursuit, he will appeal to the Guatemalan people to help him overcome the entrenched old guard and achieve the change he campaigned on.
“We are clear that in the current context, we depend on society and convincing them that together we begin to row,” Arévalo told The Associated Press in an interview two weeks after his inauguration. “We can’t depend on a political system where those criminal and patronage networks still lurk.”
Arévalo won the presidency in August, beating the establishment candidate by a comfortable margin. He is the son of a former president credited with implementing some of Guatemala’s key labor protections, but Arévalo’s strong showing in a crowded field was still a shock.
The thoughtful politician with a background in academia and conflict resolution caught fire with a message of challenging the country’s entrenched power structure and resuming the fight against corruption.
The face of the resistance to change is Attorney General Consuelo Porras. Sanctioned by the U.S. government for allegedly undermining Guatemala’s democracy, Porras has used her office’s autonomy to pursue Arévalo and his party since he won a spot in the presidential runoff election last year.
