US raises concerns about acts to ‘undermine’ Guatemala’s democracy

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday congratulated Bernardo Arevalo on his election as the next president of Guatemala, but added the United States remained "concerned with continued actions by those who seek to undermine Guatemala's democracy." Guatemala's supreme electoral tribunal on Monday ratified the victory of center-left candidate Arevalo in the country's presidential election, although a new bid to suspend the president-elect's party sowed fresh confusion about the fraught process. "Such anti-democratic behavior, including efforts by the Public Ministry and other actors to suspend the President-elect's political party and intimidate election authorities, undercuts the clear will of the Guatemalan people and is inconsistent with the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Blinken said in a statement released by the U.S. State Department on Tuesday.