Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo said he wants to keep a “good” relationship with the United States even as global events create new risks for countries seeking to protect their sovereignty.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Jan. 15, Arévalo said the United States’ removal of Venezuela’s president reflected a broader period of disorder, describing it as “disorder in the sense that the norms of the old order are breaking.” He said Guatemala, which he said has also felt the sting of U.S. intervention, is focused on maintaining what he described as a good relationship with Washington while working to support international law and peaceful dispute resolution.
Arévalo said the world is struggling to recover a shared sense of order. “The problem is how do we recover that sense of order to get the world to fit together again,” he said.
Arévalo, the AP reported, was born in Uruguay, where his father, former Guatemalan President Juan José Arévalo, was in exile after the CIA precipitated a 1954 coup that forced out President Jacobo Arbenz. After that overthrow, military dictatorships and decades of civil war followed, a history that Arévalo drew on in describing Guatemala’s sensitivity to foreign influence.
Arévalo said that before taking office two years ago, he worked in international dispute resolution. He also said Guatemala is walking what he described as a fine line: cooperating with the United States on shared interests such as combating drug trafficking while trying to preserve sovereignty amid what he said are threats of more interventions from the Trump administration.
Addressing the possibility of deteriorating relations, Arévalo said he believes the relationship remains strong. “We have right now a level of relations so strong and strategic that we don’t even consider that scenario,” he said.
He said combatting drug trafficking and controlling immigration remain central to cooperation between Guatemala and the United States. The AP reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised that relationship during a visit to Guatemala last year.
Arévalo said the strength of the relationship helped Guatemala negotiate relief from Trump administration tariffs. He also said Guatemala does not have to hold back in confronting drug trafficking. “We don’t have to hold back or limit our actions against (drug traffickers),” he said, adding, “We don’t have a historic relationship with drug trafficking or an arrangement with any cartel.”
On immigration, Arévalo said deportations of Guatemalans from the United States have not increased compared to previous U.S. administrations. He declined to comment on what he described as the U.S. immigration crackdown, saying it was an internal matter for the U.S. and not part of the bilateral relationship.
Arévalo also discussed domestic political issues he said Guatemala is facing. The AP reported that he said he was looking ahead to the selection process for constitutional court justices and the attorney general.
On that front, the AP said Guatemala’s current top prosecutor, Consuelo Porras, has pursued Arévalo’s party since before he won election. The AP reported that international observers have characterized her investigations as politically motivated and that Porras refused Arévalo’s request to step down when he took office.
The AP also reported that the U.S. government has sanctioned Porras for allegedly undermining democracy by obstructing corruption investigations. Noting that there were 121 days remaining until Porras’ term ends, Arévalo said, “The democratic development of the country is on the line, the possibility of having democratic institutions.”