The Guatemalan president Bernardo Arevalo He reported on his first 100 days in office and highlighted, among other advances, a 13% reduction in crime.
In a message to the population, the president, who took office on January 15, said that “we have begun the construction of a country that advances with the people, safely and without fear.”
Arévalo mentioned that his government put an end to 39 organized crime structures, 22 of which were dedicated to extortion, and that he filed 34 complaints for corruption in the public administration, including one for the purchase of vaccines against COVID-19 to a Russian company for millions of dollars.
“The people of Guatemala suffer from profound inequalities, this government is going to reduce them decisively, with transparency and accountability, ensuring that every penny invested reaches those who should receive it,” Arévalo said Tuesday.
The president also announced that he signed an agreement by which his salary was reduced by 25%. Previously, the Guatemalan president was one of the highest earners in Latin America.
One of the most important promises of his campaign and that Arévalo still has not been able to fulfill It is the departure of the attorney general Consuelo Porras. The law protects the attorney general despite the fact that thousands of Guatemalans have called for her departure, pointing out that she is behind the criminalization of judicial officials who fought corruption.
“Today, some of these actors, such as the Public Ministry of Consuelo Porras, use their position to intimidate their critics and to attack and try to weaken, from their trench of impunity, the project that the people of Guatemala have chosen for their future. We will not rest until we achieve, through legal means, the removal of this threat to democracy,” Arévalo said.
In an unprecedented act and after the brief speech, the president walked about half a kilometer accompanied by his wife and ministers along an avenue in the historic center of the Guatemalan capital to greet the population.
“Today from the government we are accountable to everyone,” said the president.
Dina García, an insurance broker, said she still sees no significant changes under Arévalo’s presidency. “The assaults, the killings continue, I knew that the changes were not going to be rapid, but we still do not see that,” she told The Associated Press the 30 year old woman.
Claudia Lara, a 54-year-old dressmaker, was more hopeful. “It’s a short time to think that she is going to change something, I still give her the benefit of the doubt, I think that in a year there could be something more,” she told AP.
Arévalo, leader of the progressive Seed Movementwas elected president in August after beating former first lady Sandra Torres in a second round of elections.
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