Guatemalan President Looks To Turn EU Backing Into Investments

Brussels, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Feb, 2024) Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo told AFP Tuesday that he hoped to turn the firm backing he received from the EU in his struggle with rogue prosecutors into greater development cooperation.

The European Union was among the key international players that threw their support behind the anti-corruption crusader as establishment forces tried to block him taking office after victory in elections last year.

He was finally inaugurated in January.

The bloc this month followed up by imposing sanctions on five justice officials, including Guatemala's attorney general Consuelo Porras, accused of plotting to undo Arevalo's victory.

The president said the EU's measures "sent a clear message" to those who obstructed the recognition of his electoral win that their actions would not be condoned.

"We continue in our efforts to ensure that all of Guatemala's justice institutions function free of the suffocating embrace of corruption," he said on a visit to Brussels.

The outsider-turned-leader praised the EU for playing a "very important role in terms of political support."

"We now seek to translate political support into concrete measures that underpin efforts for the economic and social development of our country," he said.

"We are interested in exploring collaborative projects, attracting investment in large development projects, working together between governments and the private sector."

Arevalo inked a memorandum of understanding in Brussels on Tuesday to bolster the dialogue between Guatemala and the EU and to set out a framework for developing a concrete cooperation agenda.

When he travelled to Arevalo's inauguration last month, EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell announced investments of 50 million Euros (about $54 million) in EU projects in the Peten region.

Borrell announced Tuesday that a mission of his team will return to Guatemala in March to discuss new initiatives.

Former lawmaker, diplomat and sociologist Arevalo, 65, pulled off a major upset when he swept from obscurity to win elections last August, firing up voters weary of graft in one of Latin America's poorest nations.

His anti-corruption crusade put him in the crosshairs of prosecutors accused of graft and closely aligned with the country's entrenched political and economic ruling class.