Sawt Falasteen - Tensions in Guatemala as Congress delays Arevalo's inauguration

More than seven hours after the swearing-in ceremony had been scheduled Arevalo had still not taken the oath of office, as the newly-installed Congress remained locked in tense debate.

"I am already here" at the National Theatre, where the ceremony is to take place, Arevalo wrote on X, as lawmakers argued over the formation of the board of directors, which is to swear him in.

The delay was earlier dominated by hours of tug of war over the status of the 23 lawmakers from Arevalo's Semilla (Seed) movement, due to the suspension of his party on fraud allegations widely seen as trumped up.

They were finally accepted as full party members.

In a nearby square, thousands of supporters gathered to await the ceremony, waving flags, after some earlier protested the delays outside Congress.

Arevalo has survived months of judicial machinations to stop his inauguration which he and observers see as a bid by a corrupt elite desperate to cling to power.

Graft-accused prosecutors have tried to overturn the election results, strip Arevalo of immunity from prosecution, and his Semilla party has had its registration suspended

"The lawmakers have the responsibility to respect the will of the people expressed at the polls. They are trying to violate democracy with illegalities, trifles and abuses of power," Arevalo wrote earlier on X.

- 'Scoundrel governments' -

Arevalo, a 65-year-old lawmaker, ex-diplomat and sociologist pulled off a major upset when he swept from obscurity to win elections last August, firing up voters weary of graft in one of Latin America's poorest nations.

In the capital Guatemala City, Indigenous Mayans lit incense and danced along to the rhythm of drums, celebrating the pending change in government.

"We have had mediocre, corrupt, scoundrel governments that do not have the slightest love for their country, and I hope that this government does not fail the people," said Indigenous leader Alida Vicente, 43.

"There is a lot of enthusiasm, there is a lot of hope from the population."

A statement signed by the European Union, Organization of American States and other Latin American governments urged Guatemala's Congress to "fulfill its constitutional mandate to hand over power as required by the Constitution."

Samantha Power, leading the US delegation to the inauguration, wrote on social media that Congress should "uphold the will of the people. The world is watching."

The inauguration is also being attended by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro and Spanish King Felipe VI.

Chile's President Gabriel Boric had to leave before the ceremony, due to the lengthy delays.

- 'Rebuilding democracy' -

Arevalo is due to replace Alejandro Giammattei.

Under Giammattei, several prosecutors fighting graft have been arrested or forced into exile. Rights groups also accused him of cracking down on critical journalists.

He was also accused of propping up Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who headed the campaign against Arevalo alongside senior prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and Judge Fredy Orellana.

All three are listed as corrupt and undemocratic by the US Justice Department.

Guatemala is ranked 30th out of 180 countries by Transparency International, which lists nations from most to least corrupt.

It is also one of Latin America's most unequal countries, a reality that has, along with high rates of violent crime, compelled hundreds of thousands to risk the perilous migrant journey to the United States in hopes of a better life.

Arevalo is the son of reformist Juan Jose Arevalo, who in 1945 became Guatemala's first democratically elected president after decades of dictatorship.

The chess-playing, jazz-loving polyglot is facing a tricky task ruling Guatemala.

To start with, he inherits an attorney general who "attacked and criminalized" him and "threatened democracy to a degree we had not thought possible," said Edie Cux of Citizen Action, a local version of Transparency International.

Arevalo himself has acknowledged there would be "difficulties, since these political-criminal elites, at least for a time, will continue to be entrenched in some branches of the state."

L.AbuTayeh--SF-PST