The EU strengthens its alliance with Arévalo's Guatemala

This Tuesday, the European Union has taken another step in its support for the democratic process in Guatemala, which, in the opinion of Brussels, is embodied by the new president of the Central American country, Bernardo Arévalo.

After supporting his inauguration and issuing sanctions against the Guatemalan attorney general, Consuelo Porras, considered one of the main people responsible for trying to torpedo the transition of power after the elections, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has now signed a memorandum of understanding with which the EU ratifies its intention to “reinforce” ties with Arévalo's Guatemala.

The memorandum demonstrates the EU's "clear and firm" will to "reinforce" bilateral relations with Guatemala through a "regular, open, and structured" dialogue between Brussels and the Central American country, Borrell stressed after signing the document together with the Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Carlos Ramiro Martínez, in the presence of Arévalo.

The Guatemalan president is in the middle of a European tour that has already taken him to Germany and France and will conclude in Spain.

In Brussels, in addition to Borrell, Arévalo has met with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and with MEPs Javi López, co-president of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, and Jordi Cañas, who headed the electoral observation mission of the EU to Guatemala.

“We have to build bridges and avenues to be able to walk together,” Arévalo stressed in statements to this newspaper in the Belgian capital.

"We are collaborating in the construction of a world where the European Union and our country converge in the conviction of a world governed by law, by democratic values, the institutions of democracy, full respect for human rights and processes of economic development that are inclusive and that at the international level are based on respect for international law and the search for peaceful solutions to all the problems we are facing,” he added.

The agreement will allow “to develop our political, commercial and cooperation relations with you, Mr. President, and with your government, but also and, above all, with the people of Guatemala,” Borrell stressed.

In addition, he has announced that a European mission will visit the country in March to advance the 50 million euro program that the EU will invest in the department of Petén and that Borrell himself announced during his visit to the country in mid-January, when he attended to the investiture of Arévalo.

Despite the strong international presence, the seizure of power was delayed for hours due to the attempts of some deputies to torpedo the transfer, in the last of several maneuvers throughout the electoral process to prevent his rise to the presidency, as also denounced by the European electoral observation mission sent to Guatemala.

At the beginning of February, the EU Council announced sanctions against Prosecutor Porras, as well as three other senior Public Ministry officials and a judge for “undermining democracy, the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power” in Guatemala.

For MEP Cañas (Ciudadanos), the memorandum of understanding marks a new moment in the bilateral relationship that must continue with greater European investments to help end the underlying problem, which is inequality.

“The Arévalo Government has the opportunity to begin a process of change” that “is important not only for Guatemala, but for the region, in a context where Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica itself are beginning to have problems.” , he noted, adding: “Now is the time for Europe to help with specific programs, memorandums of understanding, the Global Gateway [program] and investments that are capable of reducing inequality.”

One of the issues that has emerged during these days of the European tour is the situation of the journalist José Rubén Zamora, imprisoned since July 2022 after accusing the circle of the then president, Alejandro Giammattei, of corruption.

In this regard, Arévalo has assured that the concern of his Executive regarding Zamora "is constant" and has recalled that, as soon as the new Minister of the Interior took office, the abuses of the conditions of imprisonment" of Zamora, which were " practically torture and harassment.”

Even so, he recalled, as a Government they cannot "intervene in judicial processes."

For this reason, he added: “What we are guaranteeing is that their conditions of permanence while their situation is being clarified are the most dignified and appropriate within the framework of what the law allows.

We hope that we will soon be able to resolve this.”

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