The delegations of Spain and Japan withdrew from the Miguel Ángel Asturias National Theater due to the delay. Jimmy Morales has an alternative to preserve his immunity, if he then automatically assumes as a deputy of the Central American parliament.
Alejandro Giammattei, a conservative doctor, will lead from Tuesday the reins of Guatemala for the next four years amid expectations and discontent of the population with the outgoing government.
Giammattei will be the 51st president of Guatemala replacing Jimmy Morales, a comedian who became president.
The act of inauguration, convened for 2 pm, is almost four hours late. This is because in the Congress the development of the activities was delayed. Now, the new deputies and the president must move to the Theater where the transfer of command will be.
Guatemalan media confirm that the delegations of Spain and Japan withdrew from the Miguel Angel Asturias National Theater, due to the three-hour delay in the inauguration of Alejandro Giammattei.
Minutes before being sworn in, Giammattei apologized via Twitter for the delay of several hours in the inauguration. He claims that he is oblivious to the new government.
I apologize to all attendees and the Guatemalan population, reasons beyond the new Government have affected the development of the acts of inauguration. #HomeElCambio
– Alejandro Giammattei (@DrGiammattei) January 15, 2020
Jimmy Morales, who will deliver the presidency to his successor in a few minutes Alejandro Giammattei, will lose automatically the immunity brought by the office of president of the Republic of Guatemala.
This is particularly relevant given that he has accusations of alleged corruption against him, especially in the case that links his FCN-Nation party with an illegal electoral financing scheme. Likewise, some other accusations weigh on him until now mandatory.
Morales has an alternative to preserve his immunity after the presidency, and that is that in the neighboring country the ex-plaintiffs can automatically assume as deputies of the Central American parliament, something that in El Salvador the Constitutional Chamber eliminated in 2014.
In doing so, they enjoy the immunities and privileges of any other parliamentarian, including the right to prejudice, that is, they cannot be tried without first passing a special procedure.
This protection is designed to avoid political pressures or persecutions on legislators, however it covers any type of accusation against them.
To make this immunity effective, President Jimmy Morales he has to assume possession as a deputy of the Parlacen this same day. If not, it is at the mercy of a capture order in the space where it remains without it without this protection.
To do so, this politician must arrive in person at the offices of the Central American parliament, located in zone five of the Guatemalan capital, about two kilometers away from the Miguel Ángel Asturias National Theater, where the transfer of command takes place. However, before addressing this regional body, you must comply with all the formalities of delivering power to your successor.
After that the president has to travel that distance, which is estimated to take about 10 minutes, to be able to take office in his new position. Although there is no known arrest warrant against the president, it is known that there are several lines of investigation open, so Morales will try to speed up his new position and avoid an express arrest warrant that puts his freedom at risk .
From morning hours, hundreds of citizens went to the outskirts of the Central American parliament, where they intend to prevent the president from taking possession and preserving his immunity.
Watch the live broadcast of Alejandro Giammattei’s takeover:
“We left a stable country,” Jimmy Morales said Tuesday afternoon thanking his team after four years of government in Guatemala.
Morales went to Congress to present his latest report and said he was harassed and hated by his detractors. However, he said, his administration achieved that the country became number one in transparency and access to information in Central America and that its government policy consisted of five axes, the first being zero tolerance for corruption.
Paradoxically, the most repeated criticism of his administration was to have hindered the fight against corruption and favored impunity.
Morales – a former television comedian who won at the polls in 2015 – will be succeeded by Alejandro Giammattei, a conservative doctor opposed to same-sex marriage and abortion.
The new president will be sworn in at the Miguel Ángel Asturias National Theater and will be accompanied by several Latin American counterparts, including Juan Orlando Hernández, from Honduras; Nayib Bukele, from El Salvador; Iván Duque of Colombia, and Lenín Moreno, of Ecuador.
At the end of his investiture, Giammattei will swear his new ministers, including retired General Edgar Godoy, who will occupy the Governance portfolio in what would be a hardening in security matters.
El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, who traveled to Guatemala on Monday, met with Giammattei hours before the transfer of command ceremony.
President @nayibbukele meets this afternoon with the elected president of #Guatemala, @DrGiammattei, hours before the transfer of command ceremony. ???? pic.twitter.com/EZWpTE4jzH
– Press Secretariat of the Presidency (@SecPrensaSV) January 14, 2020
As reported by the Presidency, the two leaders They have expressed willingness to work for the development of both countries.
He also attends the investiture, headed by the US delegation, trade secretary Wilbur Ross, who previously met with Giammattei. The embassy of that country announced on its Twitter account that both governments will sign a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday for 1,000 million dollars that will be invested in the private sector to create jobs and will focus on Quetzaltenango and the country’s Altiplano.
Giammattei and Guillermo Castillo Reyes during the pre-investiture rehearsals
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Chad Wolf, interim secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, who participates in the US delegation, in a Twitter message congratulated Giammattei and said his country is committed to working with him to continue progress on security issues, curb illegal migration and stability in the region.
Giammattei, 63, won the presidency in August accompanied by César Guillermo Castillo as vice president. Leading the political party Let’s Go For A Different Guatemala (VAMOS) – founded in 2017 by politicians, businessmen and military – offered to improve the situation in the country, especially in the areas of poverty and opportunities.
The new president will have to find solutions to serve 16.3 million inhabitants, according to official figures, 59% live in poverty. According to data from the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies, almost one million children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition.
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