Will coupmongers stop Guatemala’s president from taking office? | Will Freeman

If Bernardo Arevalo is blocked from governing or ousted, it will be an ominous sign in a region where democracy is in peril

In August, I packed into Guatemala City's Constitution Plaza alongside thousands of others to watch Bernardo Arevalo, a bookish anti-corruption reformer, give his closing presidential campaign speech. There was something surreal about seeing Arevalo take the stage and make earnest appeals about curbing corruption and governing for the majority as the crowd roared applause.

The Guatemalans I have met are usually cynical about politics and politicians - for good reason. After years of rule by a bloody anti-communist military dictatorship, Guatemala became a democracy in 1985. But corrupt political machines, self-serving business elites and criminal mafias loomed large over every election afterwards.

Will Freeman is a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and holds a doctorate in politics from Princeton University