Guatemala’s new president to ask for society’s help in face of opposition from entrenched powers

By SONIA PÉREZ D.
Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo says that with his political party suspended, little support in congress and an attorney general in hot pursuit, he will appeal to the country’s people to help him overcome the entrenched old guard and achieve the change he campaigned on. In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Arévalo said: “We are clear that in the current context, we depend on society and convincing them that together we begin to row. We can’t depend on a political system where those criminal and patronage networks still lurk.” Arévalo won the presidency in August, beating the establishment candidate by a comfortable margin. His campaign caught fire with a message of challenging Guatemala’s entrenched power structure and resuming the fight against corruption.