Carmen María Torrebiarte de Amador is the first woman to assume the leadership of the organized private sector and replaced Ignacio Lejárraga after his election on April 15.
As president of the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (Cacif), she offered an interview to Free Press, in which he makes known his vision of the current situation in the country.
What does it mean to be the first woman to lead Cacif?
Like the other positions that one takes along the way, whether as a collaborator, manager or director, in everything there are always challenges, which I see as opportunities.
So, this new opportunity that is being presented to me is to work together. When one is in this part of the union, the interests are really group and not individual, unlike when one is in a company, where one is looking at the level of that organization.
Here the spectrum of what one is going to see is expanded because in Cacif, all sectors are unionized.
Was the leadership of a woman at the head of this organization already necessary?
Opportunities are always in all forums; As for whether it was time, I think that times and opportunities are given, and one takes them. In the unions and business chambers there are presidents and on the boards of directors. Even on the Cacif board there were already women, such as Maria Ester España and Connie de Paiz. But I got the presidency and I accepted the challenge.
But I do believe that spaces are opening up and becoming more visible. In other words, it is a mixture of both things.
Today, there are more women in the business sector than there were 30 years ago when I started working. That is already a reality and one is seeing how the world of work has changed in companies, in management, operations, and how women have been entering at all levels.
What will be your relationship with the government?
The relationship must be had with all the actors, which is part of the mechanism called Guatemala. If we want to make Guatemala more prosperous, to become a leading country in the world and in Latin America, we have to work together, because we are all part of that mechanism.
The moment we try to remove one, we only get in the way and we all end up suffering from the problem. Better we should see what goals we set for ourselves to work together, where we want to go and be able to make the gears work little by little. But we are all a fundamental piece.
I think it is important to remove a little polarization, since a lot of it comes from the lack of knowledge of what we really do, how we contribute and where we are going. The Legislature is important, as is the Executive, the courts, and we are all part of what we are going to do so that this country moves forward. And we all have to talk because we cannot make decisions if we are not taking everyone into account.
What proposals and approaches will they take to work on an economic agenda?
What I see is that we must define what will be the priority of an economic agenda. I can’t tell you which one because for me the infrastructure that will give us many competitive advantages may be important and I’m talking about roads, schools, health, ports and airports.
For example, if we focus on road infrastructure, which is important, and there is more and more traffic, mobilization becomes slower and slower and that reduces competitiveness, but more so in the interior of the country, than for those of us who live in the city. capital.
All the people who move their products to the capital, instead of losing two or three hours to make their shipments here or to take them to the ports, are spending five or seven hours; That is not efficient and increases costs.
So, roads are important, yes; that the infrastructure needs to be improved, yes; but it probably doesn’t take 80, but 30, and it took an hour off the road.
“Opportunities are always in all forums; as to whether it was time, I think that times and opportunities are given, and one takes them”
Carmen María Torrebiarte, president of Cacif
We must find solutions to resolve quickly and we must do it together. A great advantage is that businessmen see everything in the medium and long term and few things are seen in the short term, while governments end up being between the short and medium term.
When an entrepreneur plans something, he sees it after five, 10 and 15 years, so we are a permanent actor that is always watching how proposals are generated, and anticipating what is coming.
So, how to be able to work and generate medium and long-term plans, and not cut them every four years with each change of government. Because there are good things, bad things and those to throw away, but not everything is thrown away.
We have to see how governments think a little more than the four years, so that they leave mechanisms to be able to work and generate all that infrastructure that the country needs. That is why it is important that we define this agenda together.
As an organized private sector, what is expected with the nomination committees for CSJ judges and the Appeals Chamber?
It will be an interesting process, to see how it develops along the way.
How do you see the progress of the economic agenda in Congress?
What this legislature has done is advance a lot of laws, and I hope that when the laws come out, they will be of benefit to the entire population. Let them become the entities that help us generate that investment, so that we can continue working.
It is important how the essays come out, because sometimes and as they say “the devil is in the details.” The laws have to be of benefit to everyone, because at the end of the day the consumer is the beneficiary, but they should set back the entire process and not stop investments. The important thing is to generate certainty.
In particular, competition law…
It has been analyzed and comments have been made so that a good law comes out.
How have you analyzed the business climate for this year?
I see it well and I believe that investments are not slowing down, although it is necessary to attract more capital, but for that I return to the issue of infrastructure in the province.
But it is difficult to bring infrastructure-industry to the interior as the roads are, and I can explain the case with a factory in San Cristóbal Alta Verapaz, it is more expensive: you have to send the raw materials that come from the finished product, which become processes of long logistics, which at the end of the day reduces competitiveness, because when selling and exporting you compete with everyone in the world and there are countries that are more efficient in their logistics.
Do the business community see confidence in the economy?
Yes, and there are investments that are taking place; Production is moving forward and I don’t see anything being stopped. I think it is more the confidence of outside investors, who are in that “now now” expectation. But it has to do with the news they receive, because if anyone invests in the country, it is the private sector of Guatemala.
The economy will be positive for this year, as the authorities have said…
Yes, it will be positive, but it depends a lot on what happens abroad as well. We have the potential to grow a lot, but if there is an external crisis we cannot do much. If the United States increases inflation or Europe comes into conflict with everything that is happening there, the indicators can change for us, but not for us.
What are the initiatives you bring to Cacif?
One is to be able to convey how positive the private sector is, everything we generate in employment, responsibility with the communities and with the country. What I see at this table is a number of people who have an impressive love for Guatemala, which is reflected in what they do, in what they invest in companies, in collaborators and in communities.
There are also many deficiencies that we are seeing, but the important thing is to resolve them, so that they see us for what we are and not how we have been painted to be.
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