Petro dumps Colombia's diplomatic weight in support of Arévalo in Guatemala

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has closed ranks in support of Bernardo Arevalo in Guatemala. His diplomatic audacity, which on other occasions has caused friction and criticism, in this case earned him a standing ovation from the Central American country to Davos (Switzerland), where he will participate in the World Economic Forum starting this Tuesday. The umpteenth attempt to torpedo the transfer of command, which could only be completed in the early hours of Monday morning, meant that some of the international guests at the ceremony had to leave before the swearing-in. Not the Colombian, who remained firm in his promise not to leave until Arevalo took office.

"Applause that is worth it. Struggles that must be given," Petro wrote in a message accompanied by the video of the moment of the ovation on X ― formerly Twitter ―, his favorite social network. "My personal position is the same as always, the struggle for democracy from any point of view and in many ways. That is why we launched a solidarity campaign that helped in a certain way to ensure that the destabilization that was underway did not have an effect," he told the press from Guatemala City, where he had previously left in the air the possibility of canceling his trip to Davos if circumstances required it.

Petro, the first leftist president of contemporary Colombia, is aligned with the anti-corruption message of Arévalo and his Seed Movement. He had already taken a clear position on the Central American country just a year ago, before Arevalo was even considered a contender in the August elections, when Guatemala's questioned Attorney General's Office unexpectedly accused its defense minister, Iván Velásquez. "We will defend him, he will continue to be our minister. If Guatemala insists on imprisoning righteous men, then we have nothing to do with Guatemala," he said at the time. Although he recalled the Colombian ambassador for consultations, the insinuation of a rupture of relations with the government of Alejandro Giammattei did not materialize.

Minister Velásquez, Petro said at the time, was persecuted by the interests he touched when he headed the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) between 2013 and 2017, which exposed the rottenness of the Central American country's political class. In that U.N.-sponsored position, Velásquez dismantled dozens of corruption structures and clashed with many Guatemalan powers. He stepped on a lot of calluses, but he was highly respected.

Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche's remark was presented as a breakthrough in the investigations of the case involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. That same prosecutor, questioned in his country and accused of being a corrupt actor by the United States, asked in December to annul the elections in which Arévalo was elected, in what the Organization of American States (OAS) flatly considered an "attempted coup d'état." Since the Semilla candidate won the elections, the Prosecutor's Office headed by Consuelo Porras has tried to torpedo the inauguration of the president-elect with the opening of several judicial processes. From Spain's Pedro Sánchez to Chile's Gabriel Boric, the international community denounced those maneuvers as an attack on democracy and backed Arévalo, but few embraced the Guatemalan cause as fervently as Petro.

Petro's arrival to power, a year and a half ago, marked the path of the new Latin American left. His discourse in favour of the fight against climate change, rethinking world drug policy and seeking peace positioned him internationally at the start of his mandate. Since then, his hyperactivity on social media has undermined Colombian diplomacy. Guatemala has somehow allowed him to reassert himself after several missteps.

The Latin American left warns of the risks of a politicized justice system, with great differences from country to country. Allegations of lawfare, proscription or attempts to overthrow Lula da Silva in Brazil have clouded regional politics. "Arévalo is progressive, and Petro feels identified with what progressivism has classified as the main threat to democracy, which is legal warfare, and he feels that Arévalo has been a victim of lawfare," said Mauricio Jaramillo, a professor of international relations at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá.

Petro wants to be a regional leader, he adds, and whenever constitutional tension arises, he takes the opportunity to stand out as a defender of democracy. He also did so in the case of Pedro Castillo in Peru, who was ousted after a clumsy self-coup attempt, but that stance provoked an avalanche of criticism and reproaches at the time. The prominence he had in Guatemala allowed him to rearrange his figure in Latin America.

Putting Colombia's weight behind the legitimacy of Arévalo's election, without hesitation, worked out well, says analyst Sergio Guzmán, of the consulting firm Colombia Risk Analysis. "I applaud what Petro did in Guatemala, but you have to look at his democratic attitudes in a broad spectrum," he said. "Petro is also going to be judged by how democratic he is at home, how much he attends to the legitimate demands of the opposition," he adds. For the time being, Colombia's president can point to a timely diplomatic achievement.

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