(20 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Guatemala City – 20 June 2024
1. President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, in his office
2. Arévalo, during an interview with the Associated Press
3.SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Bernardo Arévalo, president of Guatemala:
“The problem is that here we have a co-opted and corrupt state, which is the product of a 30-year assault on power. From one day to the next, when the justice system co-opted by the same people and a congress where absolutely everything is going on, it is difficult to generate immediate results.”
4. Portraits of Juan Jose Arévalo, former president of Guatemala and father of Bernardo Arévalo.
5. Bernardo Arévalo listening to AP reporter
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Bernardo Arévalo, president of Guatemala:
“What people are waiting for is to see if the government gives them answers to their problems. The support given to us in terms of the fight against corruption and against democracy, is not given in a theoretical sense based on values, people need to see concrete results. Part of the challenge we have encountered is precisely that we found a state in a state of semi-destruction that we have to dismantle institutions to make them work again."
7. Various of Arévalo, during an interview with the Associated Press
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Bernardo Arévalo, president of Guatemala:
“If people would like to see that the corrupt are being punished, we take the first step, and we have taken it. If you go in, you will see a whole series of complaints from different ministries, from Health, Education, Communications, all of them are filing complaints. But they all end up held back by the dyke of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, where there is no investigation of this type of denunciations and a series of other issues.”
9. Various of Arévalo during interview
10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Bernardo Arévalo, president of Guatemala:
“We have a fundamental commitment to the democratic system. We are not going to resort to undemocratic measures to rescue democracy. The measures that are saying ah if you have the army, use the army to remove those corrupt people from the Public Prosecutor’s Office etcetera, no. We have a commitment to democracy.“
11. Various exteriors of the National Palace of Culture in Guatemala City
12. Various of people walking in Guatemala City
STORYLINE:
Speaking from his office in the capital of Guatemala, President
Bernardo Arévalo spoke to the Associated Press on Thursday about his first six months in office.
In a room with a portrait of Arévalo ‘s father – another former President – he said his administration has not been easy.
Apart from a co-opted justice system, he also faces a tough political opposition that tries to block changes he wants to make to a state that he says he found "semi-destroyed".
"What has impacted me the most is to see how corruption has impacted the executive capacity of all the country’s institutions, the levels of abandonment and dysfunctionality of the institutions is terrible", said Arévalo.
Arévalo met the AP team in his office, after a press conference in which he spoke of a public-private alliance to rescue La Aurora International Airport.
The airport has become a symbol of corruption due to poor maintenance by Arévalo’s predecessor Alejandro Giammattei.
Arévalo accepts that Guatemalans want quick answers to the promises made during the political campaign.
Although the lack of fast solutions has seen his popularity take a hit.
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