On Monday the Supreme Electoral Tribunal both certified the victory of President-Elect Bernardo Arévalo and temporarily suspended his Semilla party, the latest in a chain of protracted legal battles leading up to inauguration on January 14. The party says it… Read More ›
Guatemala
Guatemalans Celebrate Return of “Democratic Spring” as Potential Violence Threatens Transition
Bernardo Arévalo won Guatemala’s runoff in a landslide but faces a troubled transition amid reported assassination plots and ongoing judicial maneuvers. Emily Taylor writes in NACLA on the ‘second Guatemalan spring’ and the challenges ahead. Guatemalans flocked to public squares… Read More ›
Guatemalans Voted to End 69 Years of Corrupt Rule. Will US, Canada Accept It?
To understand Guatemala’s challenges going forward, we must ask questions about the role of the international community. Grahame Russell writes in Truthout about the challenges facing Guatemala after the victory of Bernardo Arévalo and Karin Herrera in the presidential election…. Read More ›
Bernardo Arévalo Victory Is a Turning Point for Guatemala
The president-elect has promised to crack down on corruption and break up monopolies, a welcome sign in a country gripped by a wealthy elite. Jeff Abbott writes in The Progressive Magazine on the results of the election and the challenges… Read More ›
‘Hope won’ Guatemalan presidential vote, but hurdles remain
Sandra Cuffe writes in The Christian Science Monitor on the joyful reaction to the result of the presidential election while recognising the challenges ahead, especially regarding the expected political and judicial backlash from those elites who feel their power and… Read More ›
‘Fighting a huge monster’: mine battle in Guatemala became a playbook for polluters
Indigenous defenders opposing the Marlin mine were criminalised by a corporation and its state allies Nina Lakhani writes in The Guardian about the community struggle against the Canadian gold-mining firm Goldcorp’s Marlin mine in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, in the west… Read More ›
Reaction: Arévalo Wins Presidency in Guatemala
The battle for democracy is far from over. It is not even a given that the peaceful transfer of power will take place. The weeks ahead will be critical. Claudia Méndez, Irma A. Velásquez Nimatuj, and Marielos Chang each contribute… Read More ›
Guatemala elections to serve as crucial test for democracy in Central America
While the results of the election are now known, with a landslide win for Bernardo Arévalo, fears for democracy in Guatemala have not simply gone away as state actors in support of corruption remain powerful. Jody García wrote in The… Read More ›
“If I win the presidency there will be efforts to stop the transfer of power”
José Luis Sanz writes in El Faro about the fears that Bernardo Arévalo holds if he wins the upcoming run-off in the Guatemala presidential election. It is well known that dark forces collude in violence and corruption to destabilise the… Read More ›
NPR: Democracy under threat in Guatemala
Eyder Peralta recently hosted, on NPR, a couple of interviews with prominent Guatemalans on that country’s current democratic crisis with the upcoming second round of the presidential elections on the horizon. He talks with Yassmín Barrios, the judge who passed… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 