The European Union ambassador to Guatemala, Thomas Peykerconcluded this month of August his period in office with satisfaction, according to him, having “managed to support the democracy” of the Central American country during the 2023 elections and the investiture of Bernardo Arévalo de León, in January 2024.
The 63 -year -old Austrian diplomat said in an interview with Efe that, during his five years in Guatemala, he found “many challenges”, but “also a lot of joy, because we have managed to support democracy” in front of “an institution that wanted to build a narrative of electoral fraud” non -existent.
Peyker recalled that the investiture ceremony of Arévalo de León, on January 14, 2024, had to be held at 2 pm and finally began after midnight, given certain threats.
In the opinion of the ambassador, that day all the present members of the international community “have met at the hotel, in one of the rooms, to make a fairly strong joint statement”, which, from its perspective, was transcendental to “weaken the resistance” against Arévalo de León.
“And in the end we managed to unite and speak in one voice: not only the European Union, not only the United States, not only Latin American countries, but all together,” says Peyker.
The Austrian lawyer, who began his time in Guatemala in 2020 as an ambassador, does not consider the Central American country a complicated nation.
For the diplomat, the interests of certain sectors and who “are behind” of these are quite “clear”. “So much intelligence and analysis are not needed to know what is happening,” he says, when referring to those who seek “authoritarianism” and “they are not interested that half of the population is marginalized and lives in poverty”, in addition to the immense inequality of society.
“In Guatemala there is an alliance called ‘Corrupt Pact’ and they are behind prohibiting the country from developing, to take a democratic path and that human rights and the rule of law are respected,” he emphasizes.
Precisely, the European Union has sanctioned in recent years various actors, including the Attorney General and Chief of the Public Ministry, Consuelo Porras Argueta. “The sanctions have fulfilled their goal,” says Peyker.
On that occasion, In December 2024, Porras said at a press conference that he was respectful of the comments and decisions of any country. “However, the most important thing is that you have in front of you and the people of Guatemala a prosecutor, responsible, honest and committed to the fulfillment of their duties,” he added on that occasion.
The diplomat admits that he leaves the position with “concern” for the situation of Guatemala in 2026, a “very particular” year, in which several important processes will be developed, such as the appointment of a new attorney general, magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Court and members of the Constitutional Court, the highest court of the country.
“There is decided the path of Guatemala in the future. If there is no transparency and suitable candidates, the ‘corrupt pact’ can have even more control over these institutions and justice, and even win the executive body, which would be a path to authoritarianism as in other countries,” concluded the diplomat.