Anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo wins landslide victory over military backed Sandra Torres in Guatemalan presidential election.
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, Sun. Aug. 20, 2023
The presidential elections in neighboring Guatemala have concluded and the anti-corruption candidate of a party the New York Times describes as “upstart,” has gained the seat. Bernardo Arévalo, the son of former president Juan José Arévalo known as a founding father of Guatemala’s democracy won a landslide victory against three-time presidential hopeful Sandra Torres, 67. As is well-known in Belize, Torres is the sister of Prime Minister John Briceño’s CEO, Narda Garcia. With over 99% of the ballots counted, Arévalo had received 58% of the votes while Torres polled only 37%.
In 2011, the former first lady divorced her husband, former president Álvaro Colom just so she could run a first time for president in 2015. She was unsuccessful, and ran a second time in 2019, but power that time around was taken by Alejandro Giammattei. With Sunday’s poll, Torres has now been turned away by the Guatemalan populace a third time.
It was a shocker when, in the first round of the presidential elections on June 25, a then little known Arévalo was catapulted to the runoff against Torres. Arévalo is from the Semilla (Seed) Movement while Torres hails from the National Unity of Hope Party (Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza, UNE). Torres is considered a serial campaigner who is part of the political establishment in Guatemala backed by a formidable political machine. Arévalo, on the other hand, an ex-diplomat and current first-term congressman, went into the first round polling only 3% of public support. After 99% of the votes had been counted, Sandra Torres finished first, having polled 15.7% of the votes, while Arévalo received 12.2%. Heading into the runoff, however, Arévalo banked on the fact that Torres lacked support in the capital and among the youth population.
Arévalo’s unexpected success at the polls in June led to raids at his party offices as well as calls for recounts from opponents. Semilla, which he co-founded, was even briefly suspended as a party, but the decision was reversed by Guatemala’s top court.
Arévalo ran on an anti-corruption platform, and his ascent signals that Guatemalans want change following multiple presidencies racked by corruption scandals. Elated voters view him as the country’s hope for a better future at a time when Guatemalans face increased violence and food insecurity leading to renewed waves of migration to the United States. The younger Arévalo, 64, last week commented, “I’m not my father, but I’m traveling down the same road he built.”
The senior Arévalo, whose term in office lasted from 1945 to 1951, ushered in a period of social progress in Guatemala. He was the first democratically elected president following over 70 years of dictatorship. Notable for Belize, however, is that the senior Arévalo pursued a nationalist foreign policy, and this included putting new energy into Guatemala’s territorial dispute over Belize with Great Britain. Arévalo picked up on an earlier charge by Guatemala that the Wyke-Aycinena Treaty of 1859, because of a breach, had lapsed. Writing to the New York Times in September 1981, the then permanent representative for Guatemala to the United Nations, Eduardo Castillo Arriola reported that it was during Juan José Arévalo’s term that the phrase “Belice es nuestro” was coined and popularized.
Belizeans are always wary of what angle a new Guatemalan president will take. As we wait to perceive the “cut of his jib,” the clock keeps ticking on our ICJ date with destiny.
Arévalo will be inaugurated on January 14, 2024 until 2028.