2024-01-15 01:49:39
The delay in the inauguration of elected Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo is causing unrest in the country. Demonstrators broke through barricades on Sunday and threatened to storm the Guatemalan Congress after the swearing-in of representatives that morning was delayed for unclear reasons. The first session had not yet begun when Arévalo’s inauguration was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. (local time).
The police increased their presence in the capital. The international community, including the US, is putting strong pressure on the outgoing government to complete the transfer of power. Arévalo’s party, Semilla, posted a message on the social media platform X at 4 p.m. saying Arévalo was officially president of Guatemala, but the message was apparently deleted minutes later. A spokesman for the party told Archyde.com news agency that Arévalo was in a hotel in Guatemala City. There is “no doubt” that Arévalo is the president of Guatemala, said the head of the US development aid organization, Samantha Power. She called on all sides to calm down.
Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina called for Arévalo’s inauguration to be respected. He spoke on behalf of delegations present in Guatemala, including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU). “The Guatemalan people expressed their democratic will in fair, free and transparent elections, supported by the international community through its election observation missions. This will must be respected,” Reina wrote on the social media platform X.
The anti-corruption campaigner Arévalo defeated former first lady Sandra Torres by a large margin in the August elections. Arévalo had already stated before the runoff election that he expected attempts to prevent him from taking office if he won. Since then, the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office has repeatedly tried to discredit Arévalo’s victory and prevent him from taking office: Arévalo and his elected vice president Karin Herrera should have their legal immunity withdrawn, his Semilla party suspended and the election annulled. The “coup attempt,” as Arévalo calls it, brought tens of thousands of Guatemalans onto the streets. The Attorney General’s Office denied that it was an attempted coup and defended the action as within the bounds of Guatemalan law.
Shortly before his swearing-in on Sunday, Guatemala’s Supreme Court ruled that Semilla party deputies must take up their mandate not in conjunction with their party, but as independents. This prevents their entry into Congress and weakens the new president’s exercise of power. The court announced that it would reconvene at 6 p.m. (local time).
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