The president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León, was finally inaugurated in the early hours of this Monday after a marathon day full of incidents and several months of uncertainty, in which the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office) tried to avoid his arrival at all costs. to the power. The inauguration was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, but it was delayed by more than 10 hours and several heads of state, including the King of Spain, Felipe VI, left the country without being able to witness the ceremony.

Felipe VI left Guatemala on Sunday night, as originally scheduled, as did the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, who had arrived a few hours earlier to accompany the Spanish delegation.

It was the same case also for the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, who left the Central American nation in the afternoon since he had “commitments” in his country on Monday morning, as he indicated through his official channels.

Arévalo de Leóna 65-year-old academic who symbolizes the fight against corruptionwas invested as head of state at the end of a day in which the transfer of power was at risk because the Congress outgoing procedure greatly delayed some routine legal procedures.

This delay was intended to “coup“, as some opposition deputies pointed out, and as he himself had warned Arévalo de León on September 1, when he accused the prosecutor and head of the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office), Consuelo Porras, of wanting to prevent his inauguration.

Arévalo de León won the 2023 presidential elections with the progressive party Movimiento Semilla, born from the anti-corruption demonstrations that took place in Guatemala in 2015.

Without the presence of Giammattei

The outgoing president, Alejandro Giammattei, did not appear in person at the National Theater for the transfer ceremony and sent the institutional symbols through his secretary.

His vice president, Guillermo Castillo, with whom he has been estranged since 2020, was present at the ceremony and handed over his position to the biologist chemist Karin Herrera.

Giammattei sent his personal secretary to deliver the presidential sash to Congress, as confirmed by several sources, and similarly expressed that he would not be at the new president’s inauguration.

“Given the risk of arriving at midnight without starting the formal acts, at this moment I presented the symbols of the Presidency to the Congress of Guatemala,” the outgoing president stated through his official communication channels.

Guatemalan law stipulates that the president had to leave his post this Sunday, after assuming his duties four years ago, on January 14, 2020, at the beginning of his term as ruler.

Giammattei made a final delivery of his final government report last Friday, despite the fact that since democracy was established in 1986, all the presidents who say goodbye have attended Congress on January 14 to be replaced.

Also the presidency of Congress

The deputy of Arévalo de León’s party, Samuel Pérez Álvarez, was also elected this Sunday president of the Guatemalan Congress for the period 2024-2025, after reaching agreements with different parties and adding the necessary 90 votes.

Pérez Álvarez, 31 years old, became the youngest president of the Legislative Body in the history of the Central American country since the establishment of democracy in 1982 and was in charge of investing Arévalo de León.

The triumph of Pérez Álvarez in the vote for the presidency of Congress comes as a surprise since the Semilla Movement only has 23 deputies of the 160 that make up the Legislative Body

The losing ticket, with 75 votes, was that of the representative Sandra Jovel, of the Valor party, of the former presidential candidate Zury Ríos, and allied with the political group Vamos, of the outgoing president, Alejandro Giammattei.

According to various sources, a victory for Jovel, former chancellor during the Government of Jimmy Morales (2016-2020), would have put at risk the investiture of Arévalo de León, which was finally carried out amid pressure from the community. international and hundreds of protesters in the streets.



Source