A month after his trip to Guatemala to attend his inauguration, the King, together with Queen Letizia, offered a meal at the Royal Palace to President Bernardo Arévalo de León, whose investiture was marked by a controversial transition process in the face of attempts by the Prosecutor’s Office to reverse his victory in the elections, which forced the postponement of the ceremony and prevented the invited leaders from being present. In his words, before lunch, the King defended Guatemala’s democratic process in the face of the opposition’s attempts to not respect the popular will: “Your presence here, Mr. President,” the King said, “represents the determination of a people in defense of their sovereign will. We rejoice, as does the entire international community, that the decision freely taken by the Guatemalans has been respected.”
The Kings received the president of Guatemala and his wife, Lucrecia Peinado, in the Gasparini room of the Royal Palace and together they greeted the guests led by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. In the dining room, the King welcomed his guests, remembering his recent (and eventful) visit to Guatemala and highlighting the historical ties that unite both countries. To attend the meal, the Queen wore a Carolina Herrera dress that she has already worn on other occasions, while the Guatemalan first lady opted for a set of green pants over which she wore a shawl typical of Guatemalan crafts. .
Bernardo Arévalo makes an official visit to Spain as part of a tour of Europe that has also taken him to Munich (Germany), Paris (France), Brussels (Belgium) and Geneva (Switzerland). Before attending the meal, the Guatemalan president held meetings with the King, in the Zarzuela, and with President Pedro Sánchez, in the Moncloa.
The King traveled to Guatemala on January 13 to attend Arévalo’s inauguration, although he was ultimately unable to be present at the transfer of power ceremony due to the ten-hour delay due to obstacles from parliamentarians from the outgoing legislature to constitute the new Congress. During his stay in the Guatemalan capital, the King had the opportunity to meet with the elected president Bernardo Arévalo de León, at the Camino Real Hotel, and also with the outgoing Alejandro Giammattei. After waiting at the hotel for the inauguration to be called, given the delay and time difference, the King’s entourage opted to return to Madrid to attend to the scheduled agenda in Spain.
Bernardo Arévalo, leader of the Semilla Movement, a progressive and moderate leftist party, achieved 2.4 million votes in the elections, the highest number in the history of Guatemala, raising the flag of the fight against corruption.
This morning, Felipe VI welcomed the president of Guatemala at the Zarzuela palace where they held a meeting that was also attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, Carlos Ramiro, and the Minister of Economy, Gabriela García. , and on the Spanish side, the Secretary of State for Ibero-America, Susana Sumelzo, and the ambassador to Guatemala, José María Laviña.
