In the delayed ceremony that took place in the early hours of Monday morning
Bernardo Arevalo announced that Guatemalan migrants and gender equality will be two of the priorities of his government.
HAVANA TIMES – “No more authoritarianism,” declared the new president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arevalo, immediately after being sworn in as the head of state of the Central American country. His taking office followed a tumultuous transition process in which the Attorney General, and some judges and legislators of the just-ended Legislature, tried to prevent him from assuming the presidency.
“The people of Guatemala have shown their wisdom, and institutions such as the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal have protected the sovereign desire of Guatemalans to live in democracy,” he said in his first speech as president.
Arevalo received the presidential sash from the President of Congress, Samuel Perez Alvarez, also elected to the position on Sunday, as the outgoing president, Alejandro Giammattei, was absent from the ceremony, arguing that he had to hand over his position no later than midnight on Sunday and therefore sent the institutional symbols to Congress through his secretary.
Arevalo and Perez Alvarez are two of the founders of the Sem