President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday congratulated Bernardo Arevalo upon his inauguration as president of Guatemala and said they look forward to working on migration issues as the U.S. administration contends with an unchecked flow across the southern border.
Mr. Arevalo, a progressive, was sworn in shortly after midnight after a delay by Guatemala’s establishment parties in the Central American nation’s Congress. The reformist underdog candidate received strong backing from the U.S., European Union and the Organization of American States in the face of resistance from old guard political forces to his victory.
The Biden administration even levied sanctions on Guatemalan officials and others who were suspected of trying to undermine the peaceful transfer of power.
Mr. Biden, in a congratulatory statement, said he looked forward to working on the “root causes of migration” and other topics.
The administration is negotiating a border funding package with Congress as it faces rampant illegal immigration, a topic that will be prominent in the 2024 presidential campaign. Getting cooperation from Central American states such as Guatemala could prove critical to Mr. Biden’s hopes of dealing with the troublesome political issue.
Former President Donald Trump and Republicans say Mr. Biden has fumbled the issue of border security. At the same time, the administration has called for immigration reforms and pointed to the source of the flow from Central America.
Guatemala is a country of more than 17 million people that borders Mexico, serving as a gateway for migrants from the rest of Latin America heading for the U.S. Remittances from Guatemalans living and working in the U.S. are also a key driver of the local economy.
Mr. Biden tasked Ms. Harris with tackling the immigration issue earlier in their administration, leading to a “Root Causes Strategy” that sought to improve conditions in places that are fueling the outflow of migrants.
The vice president highlighted this aspect in her statement Monday and said she would host Mr. Arevalo to discuss the issue.
“I look forward to hosting President Arevalo in Washington in the coming months to strengthen the U.S.-Guatemala relationship and to make further progress addressing the root causes of migration,” Ms. Harris said. “Governments must work together to manage irregular migration in our hemisphere.”
Mr. Arevalo, 65, a low-key sociologist and former diplomat considered a long shot when he first announced his candidacy, has vowed to take on what he says are rampant corruption and graft among Guatemala’s traditional political, economic and military elites. His father served as Guatemala’s first democratically elected president for six years right after the end of World War II before being exiled when the political winds shifted.
“Our democracy has the strength to resist and through unity and trust we can transform the political landscape in Guatemala,” the new president told supporters Sunday shortly after taking office.
In his inauguration speech, he said the new government was committed to treating migrants crossing Guatemala’s territory with “dignity, respect, compassion, in the same way we will demand that Guatemalan migrants are treated abroad.”
In his first act as president, Mr. Arevalo then visited the site outside the Attorney General’s Office where Indigenous protesters kept vigil for more than three months, demanding authorities respect the will of voters and for the current attorney general to step down, the Associated Press reported from Guatemala City.
Mr. Arevalo’s inauguration in the face of entrenched lawmakers “is a testament to citizens’ resilience and refusal to allow the electoral process to be subverted by co-opted institutions,” Michael J. Abramowitz, president of the Washington-based rights watchdog Freedom House, said in a statement. “Peaceful mass protests, resistance by civil society and Indigenous peoples, and pressure from the international community were crucial in successfully pushing back against efforts to prevent [Mr. Arevalo] from taking office.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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