Bernardo Arévalo: ‘Guatemala’s democracy is at stake in the coming month’

Guatemala is going through a critical moment. The country is caught between efforts to rebuild its institutions and the resistance of a corrupt state unwilling to surrender its privileges. Since taking office in January 2024, President Bernardo Arévalo, 67, has confronted those entrenched powers, which have tried by every means to limit his autonomy. He has faced destabilization maneuvers, threats, and a persistent offensive from the Attorney General’s Office and Congress. Added to this is a series of prison riots, triggered after the Barrio 18 gang killed 10 police officers, which led him to impose a state of siege that remains in effect.

In an interview with EL PAÍS, held during the Latin America and Caribbean International Economic Forum in Panama last week, the president of Guatemala offers a frank assessment of recent events and reflects on the critical months ahead. Arévalo, the son of the first democratic president after the 1944 revolution, speaks with the calm of a career diplomat and an academic sociologist. His project, social‑democratic in spirit, centers on improving conditions for the most disadvantaged and defending the separation of powers, which, however, is complicating his term.

Question. In the coming months, key positions in the judiciary and the Attorney General’s Office — institutions that have been enormously hostile to you — are due to be filled. Do you think it will be easy?

Answer. These are critical months. As a country, our democracy is at stake. Something unforeseen is happening: a series of critical elections are converging in a very short period, elections that were not designed to coincide. This is a moment in which we have the opportunity to regain control of the justice system, or rather, to rescue it from the hands of these criminal and corrupt actors. We must promote the participation of independent, decent actors, committed to justice, who will compete for these positions and who will ultimately be selected to fill them.

Q. And aren’t you afraid that before that happens, there might be some kind of movement to prevent it?

A. They’ve tried all sorts of tricks and traps. This didn’t start now. It began when we surprised everyone by making it past the first round, which no one could have predicted. They found themselves with a candidate — who hadn’t even appeared in the polls — placing second, making it to the runoff, and they tried by all means to question the election, discredit it, and bring it down. Then came the runoff, we won, the result was decisive, and a second round of attempts began to challenge, through any legal means, the legality of the elections and the results, with absurd arguments, like suggesting there was fraud in Guatemala. On inauguration day, they tried to see if they could pull off some kind of maneuver through the Congress of the Republic. They knew they were going to fail, and they did. Then they spent the next year trying to generate some kind of criminal action from the justice system, with an intervention by Congress that would lead to impeachment proceedings. This entire process has been one in which they have tried to obstruct a process that was already underway, and in which they have not only failed, but their ambitions have steadily diminished. There is also the issue of physical safety, because there have been attempted attacks and plots.

Q. But aren’t you afraid of anything destabilizing happening in the coming months?

A. About 10 days ago, they tried to take over the three prisons, taking hostages, to force negotiations aimed at restoring illegal privileges we had revoked from gang leaders. It was really an attempt at destabilization. They calculated that we wouldn’t be able to respond, that we would remain negotiating, and that this would open up a series of scenarios. We acted immediately. Within 24 hours, we regained control of the prisons, freed all the hostages, and there were not a single casualty. It was a decisive but clean operation. We know it wasn’t solely a gang-related issue: it was linked to destabilization attempts that will continue.

Q. In this crisis, have you felt support from the United States and the international community, or are you alone?

A. Since we won the first round, we have clearly felt the support of the international community and the United States. There is total convergence in the face of a common enemy to regional security: transnational organized crime. For us, drug trafficking is a central threat because it fuels the structure of corruption and co-optation of the state. This cooperation has continued, and recently, with the change of leadership at the U.S. Embassy, the new chargé d’affaires reaffirmed the United States’ support for President Arévalo’s government and its fight against crime

Q. Did you expect such fierce resistance when you came to power?

A. We saw the extent of the resistance most clearly in the six months between the second round of voting and the inauguration. There, we witnessed the determination of these actors to prevent us from assuming power. They failed because they did not anticipate the citizen protests, led by Indigenous leaders and later extended to the entire society, demanding the election results be respected. This was further bolstered by international support from the OAS [Organization of American States], the European Union, and other actors who were clear: there was no fraud. This showed us that their opposition would only intensify over time.

Q. When these critical months are over, will you take legal action against those who obstructed your work?

A. I’m not going to control those institutions. The first thing will be for whoever takes over to begin administering justice independently and autonomously. Lawsuits to review spurious proceedings will come from all sides. I myself have lawsuits against Prosecutor Curruchiche and Judge Orellana. But the main thing will be to restore the normal functioning of the justice system so that the government doesn’t have to divert resources to defending itself and can concentrate even more on generating development.

Q. When will journalist José Ruben Zamora be released from prison?

A. The case against José Rubén Zamora is spurious. He had already been released, and they fabricated something to imprison him again. We are convinced that these cases — against Zamora, against Luis Pacheco, against Héctor Chaclán, and against those in exile — will collapse due to their inherent weakness when reviewed. We expect alternative measures to pretrial detention for Pacheco and Chaclán. There are already judges who have dropped the terrorism charge in similar cases. The system is beginning to change.

Q. Is a transparent election of the next Attorney General and the Constitutional Court possible?

A. That’s what’s at stake now. I made a public appeal for as many professional, decent, and independent candidates as possible to come forward. The conditions have been changing. The theory that this group completely controlled the justice system crumbles when elections no longer go their way. We saw it in the Supreme Court and the Bar Association. There is a clear mobilization in favor of restoring justice.

Q. In the region, there are “tough on crime” models with broad popular support, such as El Salvador. Where are your red lines?

A. We are demonstrating this with actions. We act decisively, but within the law. We use all the force that the law allows in the fight against gangs, while respecting rights. We believe that with our legislation, including the anti-gang law, we have sufficient tools and we are using them.

Q. How do you assess the situation in your country?

A. We inherited a country with 60% poverty, 40% extreme poverty, a dominant informal economy, and a huge dependence on remittances. We are transforming the model gradually, without a majority in Congress, but with strong public investment: schools, healthcare, hospitals, prisons, roads. In two years, we renovated 22,000 schools; the previous government did 4,000 in four years. We built 52 health centers and three hospitals. We invested in the 114 poorest municipalities with comprehensive programs. We have moved 50,000 families out of dirt-floor housing this year; next year it will be 100,000. Foreign investment grew by around 14%. We are tendering energy projects and investing in major infrastructure: ports, railways, and subways.

Q. What do you think of the January 3 attack against Venezuela?

A. We do not recognize authoritarian governments, neither those of Venezuela nor Nicaragua. We believe that solutions must be sought within the framework of international law and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Venezuela needs a plan for democratic transition.

Q. How do you explain the rightward shift in America?

A. Four years ago, we were talking about the leftward shift. The problem is that democratic systems aren’t creating well-being, and whoever happens to be in power is paying the price. It’s not just a Latin American problem. It’s a global crisis of democracy, which presents an opportunity to reflect on democracy itself. We opened the discussion to Indigenous peoples. The problem is that we often get trapped in the institutional models of a democracy built on a specific historical experience, and we don’t see the opportunities we have to enrich democracy with other kinds of experiences.

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