Guatemala: Chaos in the country due to delay in the inauguration of Bernardo Arévalo as President

Bernardo Arévalo is still waiting to be sworn in as Guatemala’s president, on a day that will be marred by protests, judicial decisions and chaos in the Central American country’s Congress.

The investiture ceremony, which will be attended by several international delegations, was scheduled for 3:00 pm local time,

However, the solemn session was delayed due to the fact that the Credentials Commission, composed of outgoing congressmen, was slow in its work of reviewing the documents of elected representatives.

Given this, it took time for the new delegates to be sworn in, as did the Congress’s Board of Directors, the group responsible for electing the President and Vice President.

The area around the Congress is surrounded by police, while supporters of the new president call for the swearing-in process to begin.

Earlier there were clashes between officials and protesters.

for its part, On Sunday afternoon Arévalo went to the social network To call representatives.

“It is the responsibility of the representatives to respect the popular will expressed in the elections. Efforts are being made to violate democracy through illegalities, petty issues and abuse of power. The Guatemalan people and the international community are watching,” he said.

The session for swearing in the new representatives was scheduled for 8:00 am

still, It was delayed due to the request of the Semila movement.Arévalo’s party, which was disqualified as a political group last November, went to the Constitutional Court for the entity to decide whether they can be part of Congress’s board of directors.

The judges decided that they would have to be sworn in as independents, which weakens the mandate of the next President, given the fact that not only would they not be able to be part of the board of directors, but they would also be able to Will not happen. To preside over commissions.

Finally the MLAs were sworn inGuatemala time around 7:30 pmAt a session before which energetic speeches were made alleging violations of the Constitution.

And then, midway through the first parliamentary session, there was an outcry over disagreements with the group of delegates temporarily presiding over the body.

While Arévalo published another message

Given the delay in Arévalo’s swearing-in, Several international delegations expressed their support for the politicianThese include Colombia, Honduras, Costa Rica and the United States, as well as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union.

“Here in Guatemala, the Congress of the Republic has still not agreed to elect its Board of Directors, which is to take over for President Bernardo Arévalo,” he shared on X Tonight. gustavo petroThe Colombian President who is in Guatemala.

“Like Peru, like Colombia, the prosecution has had an adversarial attitude toward the presidency and has even tried to imprison the vice president elected by the people,” he said.

President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, made a similar call. “The people and powers of the State of Guatemala must support the President.”

And later, Luis AlmagroThe Secretary-General of the OAS read a joint statement before several media outlets with some of the delegations visiting the Central American country, a historic milestone that came at the request of the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry.

“We call on the Congress of the Republic to fulfill its constitutional mandate to hand over power today to President-elect Bernardo Arévalo and Vice-President-elect Karin Herrera as required by the Constitution,” he said.

“The people of Guatemala expressed their democratic will in fair, free and transparent elections supported by the international community,” he said.

Arévalo’s rise to the top of power in Guatemala has been a obstacle raceDespite its widespread electoral support.

He was elected President of Guatemala on August 20 with 60.9% support and an anti-corruption speech.

But the 65-year-old sociologist and diplomat has for months condemned efforts to circumvent the election results by public officials, whom he classified as “corrupt” and which led to the suspension of the legal status of the Progressive Party co-founder Semilla Movement. Was promoted. By him.

In December, Arévalo even publicly stated that he was trying to perform “Coup”,

But the Public Ministry assures that there are irregularities in the constitution of the Semila Movement.

While Arévalo specifically pointed to the Attorney General Consuelo Porras As responsible. He also asked her to resign after he ordered a raid on the Supreme Electoral Tribunal alleging irregularities in the elections he won.

Porras was included in the list of corrupt and undemocratic actors by the United States for his controversial management, but he had the support of outgoing President Alessandro Giammattei.

The conflict generated protests in favor of Arévalo, who took the polls by surprise and after his inauguration would become the most progressive president since the return to democracy nearly 40 years ago.

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