The U.S. has a favorite in Guatemala's tumultuous elections

July 25, 2023 9:57 AM CDT BY W. T. WHITNEY JR.

Bernardo Arévalo scored a big surprise in the first-round presidential voting in Guatemala on June 25. Prior to the vote, Arévalo, candidate of the Seed Movement political party, had been lagging badly in opinion polls. But he went on to secure 11.8% of the vote, second place behind the 15.8% tally for Sandra Torres of the right-wing National Unity for Hope Party (UNE). Second-round voting takes place on August 20, possibly.

The Seed Party quadrupled its congressional delegation to become the third largest, with 23 seats. That party was formed in 2015 with the mission of fighting corruption. Critics refer to political forces associated with Guatemala’s last three presidents, including incumbent President Alejandro Giammattei, as the “Pact of the Corrupt.”

Conservative politicians, “together with the evangelical churches,” campaigned vigorously against Arévalo, “presenting him as a leftist extremist.” Unnerved by his unexpected success, those forces took vigorous action.

The UNE and eight other political parties complained. On July 8, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court (CC), backed by the Supreme Judicial Court, ordered the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to suspend certification of the results pending a recount.

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Congresspersons Raúl Grijalva, Norma Torres, James McGovern, and Eleonor Holmes Norton often oppose State Department positions on Latin America, but on July 21, they wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging him to pressure Guatemala’s government to allow second-round voting to proceed.

By implicitly supporting Bernardo Arévalo, the U.S. government seems to have reversed course to the extent that it was now speaking up for progressive political leadership─far from its usual practice as regards Latin America. Given its long immersion in Guatemalan affairs, however, U.S. actions there probably are coherent, if not always just or legal.

More:
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/the-u-s-has-a-favorite-in-guatemalas-tumultuous-elections/