Bernardo Arévalo, a 65-year-old academic, whose unassuming personality marks him out from many other Latin American leaders, had just been named Guatemala’s president-elect. Fearing Semilla’s anti-graft pledges, the country’s political, economic and military cabal, known as “the pact of the corrupt”, has tried to stop Arévalo from taking power. This accelerated in the years after 2015, when a nationwide protest movement forced the resignation of then president Otto Pérez Molina over a corruption scandal. He has been honest that he can only do so much in the single term allotted to every Guatemalan president, but he says he is confident that he can start to rebuild the country. But I believe that there is at least the possibility of stopping the actions that have suffocated Guatemala’s democratic institutions.”

Source: The Guardian January 11, 2024 21:25 UTC