Young Guatemalans are hoping for change with Sunday’s presidential election in which two social democrats face off in a country ruled for 12 years by the right and plunged for years into poverty, violence and corruption, which is pushing many young people to emigrate.
“As young people, we hope that the country will change and that new opportunities will be offered to society”, explains Wilson Itzep, a 20-year-old student from Chinique (center-west), who intends to vote for Bernardo Arevalo of the party. Semilla, who embodies the hope for change in the country.
The latter and Sandra Torres, both social democrats, found themselves in the lead, on June 25 in the first round, of the 22 candidates in the running.
The second round, whatever its outcome, will end 12 years of right-wing government, including that of outgoing Alejandro Giammattei.
Three-time unsuccessful presidential candidate Sandra Torres, 67, is the former wife of left-wing ex-president Alvaro Colom (2008-2012).
She has focused her campaign on the fight against criminal gangs and poverty through food aid and training programs.
Qualified for the second round to everyone’s surprise, Bernardo Arevalo, 64, is the son of the country’s first democratically elected president, Juan José Arevalo (1945-1951). A sociologist and former career diplomat, he has vowed to follow in his father’s footsteps to improve education and fight violence and poverty.
According to a poll on Wednesday, he is credited with 50% of the voting intentions, ahead of Ms. Torres with 32%.
His party, however, bears the brunt of the alleged interference of the public prosecutor’s office in the presidential campaign.
-“I will stay”-
On the advice of the prosecution, a judge ordered the suspension of Semilla for alleged irregularities during its creation in 2017. The Constitutional Court suspended this decision, but the confrontation continued, the services of the general prosecutor having raided in July the party headquarters.
Although the two candidates are both center-left, the actions of the prosecution are focused on Mr. Arevalo, considered by powerful sectors in the country as a danger to their interests.
Guatemala has been plunged for years into poverty, violence and corruption, scourges that push thousands of Guatemalans, especially young people, to emigrate each year, notably to the United States where more than 2.8 million Guatemalans reside.
“I have friends who have left (Guatemala),” said Dulce Chitic, a 21-year-old teacher from Jocotenango, near the capital Guatemala. “They think they will flourish as people, their purchasing power will be better, but I think if we change our perspective, that can happen here too,” she adds.
Wilson Itzep admits considering leaving the country “because of lack of work and poverty”. But, he assures, “if the Semilla party wins, maybe I will stay because for me it is a change for the country”.
Carlos Leon, who earns his living by delivering bottles of mineral water on a motorbike in the town of Zacapa, in the east of the country, intends to vote for Sandra Torres. She “will offer more work, she will offer training, 700 quetzales (some 94 dollars a month) so that the children do not drop out of school, that’s a lot,” said the 25-year-old young man.
Although determined to vote in favor of Mr. Arevalo, Dulce Chitic tempers: “What matters is not who reaches (the presidency), but that he really does it from the bottom of his heart, that he takes time to think about young people growing up, that he has ideas for young people”.
Guatemalans between the ages of 18 and 25 represent 16% of registered voters in this country of more than 18 million inhabitants, the most populous in Central America.
17/08/2023 08:25:55 – Guatemala (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
