Lucrecia Peinado, the first lady of Guatemala, says she believes that societies “do not change suddenly,” and accepts that corruption remains “rooted” in many aspects of the country, but six months after taking office, she is confident that “social change will not go backwards.”
“We are not naive in saying that all that [la corrupción] “It will disappear from one day to the next. But what I do have faith in is that there are things that will not come back. They cannot go back, because the youth supported this change, not because of the figure or the president, but because of the criticism,” said Peinado.
At the United States Institute of Peace, Peinado gave an interview to the Voice of America in which he offered an introspection on the work he carries out from his position.
The first lady admitted that Guatemala still faces challenges of “weak institutionality” due to corruption that “continues to persist.”
“My hope is that this process does not go backwards, because society is in a process of change,” he said. “I truly hope that this social change does not go backwards and that we can help in the three and a half years that remain to leave a cleaner and stronger institutionality.”
Before becoming First Lady, Lucrecia Peinado built a career spanning more than 25 years around health projects. She is a physician, surgeon, and anesthesiologist, and an expert in program management. An experience that, she said, has prepared her for her new title.
“It is a door that opened out of opportunity, not a door or a window, but a door to apply a lot of this experience,” said Peinado when describing how she perceives the role of first lady six months after the inauguration of the president -and her husband- Bernardo Arévalo.
Peinado calmly assures that neither she nor Arévalo had “actively sought” to be in the two most important positions in the country, but the path taken gave them “the strength to use all the accumulated capabilities to serve.”
“I am here to serve, not to take advantage of this opportunity,” he says.
Peinado does not deny the physical fatigue that comes with her responsibility. She still finds it “surreal” to delve into different areas of a job she had never experienced and thus identify the “baggage of opportunity that a first lady has.”
Her days are a series of coordination meetings, from monitoring agreements to visits to the interior of the country. She is not a fan of getting up early, but at eight in the morning she is already active in her work.
She sees her husband, President Arévalo, in the morning and says goodbye with a “have a nice day.” At night, when they meet again at home, they try not to discuss “any more work issues”… although sometimes it is unavoidable to ask him for an “audience.”
“Sometimes I say to him: ‘Can I have five minutes of time? Because everyone has five minutes with the president to talk about the issues. So, since I don’t have that five-minute audience, I can only talk a little bit now.’ So we talk about two or three things, I inform him or he tells me his opinion and then we go watch a television program to relax,” she described.
His favorites: miniseries that end soon, thrillers or ones with a plot that requires little time to follow, since the presidential schedule does not allow room for much else.
Arevalo seen from home
Arévalo’s electoral victory in Guatemala was followed by attacks and legal maneuvers that sought to disqualify his party, the Semilla Movement, and to disavow the results of the elections. In January, before taking officedisagreements in Congress delayed the process and caused uncertainty among the population.
“I was more tense because he was working and I didn’t see him much, and I didn’t want to burden him or worry him more,” Peinado described how those tense moments were experienced at home.
Peinado couldn’t help but see the different challenges her husband was facing on social media and sometimes feared for his safety. A feeling that only went away at nine at night, when Arévalo arrived home and went up to the second floor “relaxed.”
“I’m tense here and he comes in like this, so calm… he’s very cerebral. I don’t want to say that he wasn’t really into things but that’s his style… things don’t really bother him… he’s not someone who’s going to go all out and do things. He has the ability to think strategically,” Peinado described her husband.
During this time, the first lady observed Arévalo’s movements and opened her house so that “people” could come to eat, drink coffee or refreshments while they worked. This, she said, allowed her to realize “that if he was calm, if he had all that clarity in his mind and strategy, then why would I worry?”
A bet on young people to stop migration
The First Lady participated in a discussion at the U.S. Institute of Peace on initiatives that provide Guatemalan youth with education and job opportunities to prevent them from being recruited by gangs or choosing the path of irregular migration.
Peinado co-designed and oversees the “Youth with Purpose” initiative, which is funded by the U.S. government to “address the causes of poverty” and aims to benefit some 25,000 young people in the country.
In Guatemala, six out of 10 people are between the ages of 10 and 29, according to the first lady, who are “trying to find those opportunities.” The program covers stipends for studies, technical skills development and university studies.
“It is very important that they empower themselves with regard to their rights and obligations, and also that they understand and act with an active democratic mindset in their communities and that they develop and strengthen community ties and the pride of belonging to them,” added Peinado.
During her time supervising the project, Peinado said that they seek to promote gender equality among young people, as well as offer access to the programs to people with disabilities, mothers and young people who have conflicts with the criminal law.
The Guatemalan government is seeking to collaborate with the administrations of El Salvador and Honduras to “share” experiences in programs that counteract irregular migration and thus “create synergy on both sides of the border,” Peinado concluded.
During her visit to Washington, the First Lady met with U.S. government officials and civil society to “exchange views on the situation and our aspirations in the country.”
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