The son of a Guatemalan president credited with implementing key social reforms in the mid-20th century, Arévalo takes office with the expectation of tackling Guatemala's entrenched corruption. But it will not be easy.
ADVERTISEMENTAfter an uncertain journey, Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala's president minutes after midnight on Monday.
Despite months of efforts to derail his inauguration, including foot-dragging and rising tensions in the run-up to the transfer of power, the 65-year-old was finally sworn in during a long day in Congress that started nine hours late and lasted more than 12 hours.
Arévalo assumes the presidency after having won the August elections by a comfortable margin.
But nothing has been easy since then, as the controversial Attorney General Consuelo Porras - whom Arévalo accuses of orchestrating a "coup d'état" - and the establishment forces she represents have launched one legal challenge after another against Arévalo and his party.
Despite hundreds of Arévalo's supporters pressuring lawmakers to follow the constitution, even clashing with riot police outside the Congress building on Sunday, the inauguration process dragged on for hours into the night before he took the oath of office.
Supporters, who had waited hours for a festive inauguration ceremony in Guatemala City's Plaza de la Constitucion, were fed up with yet another delay and marched to the building where Congress was meeting.
"If they don't swear him in, we, the people, will swear him in," one of the protesters, Dina Juc, the mayor of the indigenous village of Utatlàn Sololá, told AP.
The inauguration, like almost every day since Arévalo's resounding victory, was marked by legal wrangling and tension.
Why was it so difficult for Arévalo?
"MPs have a responsibility to respect the will of the people as expressed through the ballot box. There is an attempt to violate democracy with illegalities, trivialities and abuses of power," Arévalo denounced during the day.
In order to prevent the Congress from being constituted, some deputies prevented the session from taking place normally, even going so far as to hold and lock up other deputies inside the building.
The long wait meant that many special guests who had come to the Guatemalan capital to attend the ceremony had to leave before it began, including the King of Spain, Felipe VI.
In his final speech, Arévalo said the country was in a "painful cycle of crisis and uncertainty, which must give way to the dawn of Guatemala".
A progressive academic-turned-politician and son of a Guatemalan president credited with implementing key social reforms in the mid-20th century, he takes office with the expectation of tackling Guatemala's entrenched corruption. But it will not be easy.
He has little support in Congress and Porras' term as the country's top law enforcement official runs until 2026, although Arévalo has said one of his first acts will be to ask for her resignation.