Bernardo Arevalo, who took office on January 14, is the first progressive head of state in Guatemala since the 1954 coup. He is also the son of Juan Jose Arevalo, the country’s first democratically elected president (1945-1951). ) in the wake of the “October Revolution” in 1944, and incarnation of a “Guatemalan Spring” which lasted ten years. Rodrigo Veliz Estrada, Guatemalan historian and researcher at the Freie Universität in Berlin, looks back on the tormented history of this country where no one had envisaged such an electoral turning point.
Credited with 5% of voting intentions on the eve of the presidential election, Bernardo Arevalo was elected in the second round, on August 20, 2023, with 58% of the votes. What does this victory mean for the country?
This is a pivotal moment; there will be a before and an after. The very long chapter which opened with the military coup of 1954 closes in a highly symbolic way. It’s the first time [en soixante-dix ans] that a political actor proposing major changes comes to power with strong popular support. I had never observed such collective relief in the country. Arevalo’s election is a historic success, even if everything remains to be done.
What is the context of the “revolution” which allowed, in 1944, the arrival to power of Juan Jose Arevalo, father of the current president?
Guatemala was then a dictatorship in full decline, in the hands of an agrarian oligarchy. The State played a central role in an economy dedicated to the export of bananas and coffee. He requisitioned the indigenous population [grande majorité des trois millions de l’époque, notamment mayas], at least one week per month, in the plantations. And had offered to the American banana company, the United Fruit Company (UFCO), which held the monopoly on the production and marketing of bananas, the concession and control of the ports, the railway, the production of ‘electricity.
In October 1944, a popular uprising occurred – first urban, with young officers, students, craftsmen and workers, later joined by port workers, peasants, day laborers. [qui chasse Juan Federico Ponce Vaides, successeur éphémère du dictateur Jorge Ubico]. The State adopted a new Constitution under the leadership of Juan Jose Arevalo, inaugurated president in March 1945.
How can we define the ten years of the “Guatemalan Spring”?
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