flâneur

Guatemala - A triumph and a warning about democracy

boz.substack.com · 871 words · saved by 1 readers

Bernardo Arévalo's inauguration as president of Guatemala was a triumph for democracy in the hemisphere. The good guys won. The forces of evil lost. I feel absolutely certain about the above statement. Guatemala's president fought for months and beyond the final hours to win against a lame duck Congressional majority attempting to rig the rules, a court system that backed those congressional decisions, and a corrupt attorney general who engaged in politicized investigations to overturn the election. Citizens mobilized to make sure that the coup wouldn't happen. The international community that assembled to cheer on the new president's inauguration pulled off a successful pressure campaign against a corrupt political elite that has had years to consolidate control. Hooray! Here comes the caveat. Latin America is a region where presidents have too much unilateral authority and use that power to roll over Congress, ignore the Supreme Court, and dodge corruption investigations by Attornies

Bernardo Arévalo's inauguration as president of Guatemala was a triumph for democracy in the hemisphere. The good guys won. The forces of evil lost. I feel absolutely certain about the above statement. Guatemala's president fought for months and beyond the final hours to win against a lame duck Congressional majority attempting to rig the rules, a court system that backed those congressional decisions, and a corrupt attorney general who engaged in politicized investigations to overturn the election. Citizens mobilized to make sure that the coup wouldn't happen. The international community…

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