The Government of Bernardo Arévalo and Karin Herrera is about to close the four -month period in the middle of an escalation of conflicts.
The last of the crises came from the dome, due to the breach of a campaign commitment, since the vice president did not reduce the salary, as she had offered. The situation unleashed questions about the group of technicians and professionals who advise the binomial and the strategies they propose.
The cost of 0-29 contracts to manage the matters closest to the presidency and vice presidency and the effectiveness of their work is a point of analysis for experts.
The closest support secretariats for the presidency – general, private and social communication – have an body of 87 technical and professional advisors hired in line 029, for Q1.1 million per month, In total, according to public information reports.
The vice presidency has a team of 25 advisors, with functions in the general, private, social communication, particular and office, for a monthly total of Q395 thousand 392.28.
The crises for the implementation of the Regulation for the Classification of waste, the mandatory vehicular insurance, as well as the demands of salary increase of the health and the teaching staff reached the maximum point when it was revealed that the vice president, Karin Herrera, did not comply with the salary of 25%, as the President Arévalo did.
Herrera reacted with a statement, publications in the social network X and the justification that the Ministry of Finance had not attended its application to make the reduction.
One of the conclusions of analysts is that what happened reflects lack of internal coordination and institutional weakness.
The image of the vice president has weakened
José Carlos Ortega, director of the Institute of Services to the Nation, said that the issue of salaries leaves a weakened image of the presidential binomial and, even more, when the erogations are known by advisors. In addition, he questioned the way Herrera addressed the controversy: “The statement he issued is lousy. The statements he gave about his relationship with the president are very bad […]. It has a lot of ignorance, a very bad advice. ”
According to Ortega, the institutional image is more affected when the vice president transfers responsibility for her advisors.
Disagree of the expenditure on advisors of the vice presidency:
- General Secretariat: 6 advisors – Q103,000.00
- Private Secretariat: 6 advisors – Q100,964.28
- Dispatch: 5 advisors – Q88,000.00
- Social Communication: 6 advisors – Q80,000.00
- Private Secretariat: 2 advisors – Q23,428.00
Expenditure and questionable suitability of the advisors
Regarding spending on these advice, the political analyst Alejandro Quinteros believes that the situation exposes a structural problem in the use of public funds. “In any institution, the most important thing is that the people who are hired are the necessary; neither more nor less, and that are the ideal ones,” he said.
In her opinion, it would be necessary to “make a deeper review of the profiles and position descriptions of the places she is in charge”, and evaluate whether they are there for merit or by links of nepotism, politicians, because they supported the campaign or are from the party.
“It has been recurring in several governments that are designated by relatives, rather than the right people,” he added. As he explained, this context makes it necessary to understand if the profiles and those who occupy them are the ideals, and see the results achieved.
One of the aspects that must occupy the advisors is the apparent distance between Arévalo and Herrera.
The political analyst Cristhians Castillo said that this type of controversies are not new in Guatemalan policy and that the distancing between the president and the vice president responds, in this case, in part, that she is not an organic actor of the official party.
“This has become the trend, precisely because the vice presidents are not necessarily organic actors of the parties that postulate them, he said.
Negative perception and lack of coordination
On the salary issue of Herrera, the perception generated can be totally negative, according to the analyst: “The figure of the vice president in our Republic is a secondary figure and is thus designed in the law. […] The impression of citizenship is that the work of the vice president is quite lower, as well as their responsibilities and, therefore, it cannot win more ”.
Quinteros added that the fracture between president and vice president is visible and affects governance:
“That is fatal for any country […]. What they are doing is playing with the population and making citizens wasting time. It is four years in their hands, and it is lost time if they do not solve it ”he added.
Both analysts agree that what happened reflects lack of internal coordination and institutional weakness.
Ortega added that “The issue leaves the vice president very badly. He could not execute something as basic as coordinating the salary issue with the president. That weakens the binomial.”
Arévalo also spoke and assured that he had no knowledge about the salary situation of the vice president.
“I had no knowledge of the salary situation because I do not see the forms of the different ministries or any government instance,” said Arévalo in public statements on April 7.
As for a possible “divorce” in the presidential binomial, Arévalo ruled out, explaining that each government unit has its own administration. “There is no divorce, it is only the natural administrative order”the president justified.
Case not isolated
With this, Castillo suggests that many times the vice presidents do not have a relevant role within the parties, which contributes to the fact that they are relegated or disjointed.
This type of fractures between president and vice president is not unique, and gave as an example the administration of Alejandro Giammattei with Guillermo Castillo. This is related to that vision that “they are adornment” or have a decorative function, as described, they become “Figure as a pot”.