After the judicial odyssey, Arévalo begins the runoff campaign in Guatemala

First modification: 07/15/2023 – 00:16

2 min

“There are going to be difficult days from now until August 20, we are going to have to fight lies and misinformation,” Arévalo told hundreds of Mayan indigenous supporters in the town square of Sololá, some 200 km west of the capital. Guatemalan.

Wearing a hat and a coat with typical indigenous embroidery, the candidate assured that “the castle of corruption, where they had locked up our country, has already begun to crumble.”

Arévalo began the campaign 19 days after causing a surprise in the first round of the presidential elections and after overcoming several legal obstacles, such as a review of the scrutinies for the June 25 elections and a resolution by a judge that disqualified his Semilla party.

The presidential candidate assured that he will work with the four indigenous peoples that make up this country: Mayans, Xincas, Garífunas (blacks from the Caribbean) and ladinos.

“We are going to build a true unit to walk together, so that no one is left behind and move towards the development and hope” of the country, he added to cries of “Long live Arévalo”.

“They are going to continue trying to play dirty games, legalizing the fight, trying to distract us, but we are going to continue advancing,” he asserted to applause.

Likewise, he said that decisions of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Constitutional Court led to “opening the light and allowing us to continue with the campaign, [y] They have opened the door for the corrupt to understand that this is the end of their times.”

“In 75 years they have distanced us from democracy, they have stolen our dignity,” indigenous activist Silvia Menchú told AFP, referring to the 1944 revolution, when the dictator Jorge Ubico was overthrown and Juan José Arévalo won the elections. (1945-1951), father of the presidential candidate.

AFP