Ten months into his term, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo has faced 13 impeachment requests and six attempts to strip his immunity from prosecution. His congressional coalition has crumbled, holding back his economic agenda that includes spending on infrastructure and social welfare programs. Last week, that same obstructionist Congress selected 13 new justices to a five-year term on the Supreme Court, choosing from a list of relatively unknown candidates that observers of the process believe have ties to corrupt economic and political sectors that work against Arevalo’s government.
That Arevalo is in office at all remains an enormous political victory for the population of Guatemala, its Indigenous communities and the international actors who pushed for better governance in the country. His predecessor, former President Alejandro Giammattei, attempted to rig the 2024 elections, banning most of the candidates who appeared to threaten the country’s corrupt entrenched elites and power structures. When Arevalo slipped through that process and then surprisingly took enough votes out of a divided field to make it to the second round, an enormous domestic and international battle began.
On one side, the Giammattei government and Attorney General Consuelo Porras made numerous attempts to disband Arevalo’s party and block his candidacy, amid other efforts to prevent the second-round election from being held fairly. On the other side, the international community—including the U.S., the European Union, the Organization of American States and numerous outside nongovernmental organizations—successfully pressured Guatemala’s business community to allow the runoff round to be held. When it was, Guatemalan voters gave Arevalo a strong mandate.