Laura Gamba
January 15, 2024•Update: January 15, 2024
BOGOTA, Colombia
The deputies who will make up the Guatemalan Congress for the next five years took office on Sunday seven hours later than expected, finally giving Bernardo Arevalo free rein to take office as president of the country.
The possession of new lawmakers is an essential requirement for the investiture of the new president to take place.
The 160 deputies that make up the new Congress took office at the end of a tumultuous session, with altercations inside and outside the parliamentary premises.
Hundreds of protesters approached the area around Congress demanding the resumption of the swearing-in ceremony for the new lawmakers, which was suspended in the morning. Arevalo's subsequent possession ceremony was to begin at 3:00 p.m. local time.
The unexplained delay in Arevalo's inauguration generated a call from the delegations of the countries present and international organizations for the process to be respected.
USAID chief Samantha Power said on X that "there is no doubt" that Arevalo is the president of the Central American country and called on all parties to keep calm.
“There is no question that Bernardo Arevalo is the President of Guatemala. We call on all sides to remain calm — and for the Guatemalan Congress to uphold the will of the people. The world is watching,” she said.
The Organization of American States (OAS) and the EU also called the Congress of Guatemala to hand over “power as required by the Constitution” to the elected president.
“We call on Congress to fulfill its constitutional mandate to hand over power, as required by the Constitution, to President-elect Bernardo Arevalo,” said Luis Almagro, secretary general of the OAS.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also said he will remain in Guatemala until Arevalo takes office as president of that country and that he is willing to cancel the trip he has scheduled to Switzerland if the situation in the Central American country does not improve soon.
Tensions are building up after an electoral process marked by various attempts since last July by the Prosecutor's Office to prevent Arevalo from taking office on Sunday.
Arevalo, 65, achieved a surprising victory in the presidential runoff in August, but the measures of the Guatemalan prosecutor including the attempt to strip the immunity of Arevalo and his vice president Karin Herrera, the suspension from his party and seeking the annulment of the electoral process, have led thousands of Guatemalans to take to the streets in protest.
Arevalo is set to be sworn in as president in the next few hours.
