Guatemala restarts presidential transition with president-elect’s team

Guatemala’s government restarted its presidential transition with representatives of President-elect Bernardo Arevalo, who won a landslide victory in an August run-off election, according to a government statement made public on October 4.

The presidential transition’s restart comes after the head of the Organization of American States (OAS) and other international voices urged Arevalo to lift the suspension he ordered in September.

Arevalo temporarily halted his participation in the government transition after actions by authorities fueled doubts around the transfer of power, he said at the time.

The president-elect traveled to Washington earlier this week, where he met on October 3 with senior officials of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, as well as business leaders and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro.

The top prosecutor’s office in the Central American country has raided the headquarters of Arevalo’s party and facilities run by Guatemala’s main electoral tribunal.

Arevalo has called the prosecutor’s office’s investigation of his electoral victory last month part of a coup attempt.