To Save Guatemala’s Democracy, the U.S. Needs Private Sector Friends
The U.S. and the EU can use economic incentives to convince the nation’s elite to support Bernardo Arévalo.
Guatemala’s private sector is typically portrayed as an oligarchic cabal determined to keep pro-reform president-elect Bernardo Arévalo out of office, or at least sabotage his administration. This view, however, obscures the diversity among the country’s elites—and hurts the international community’s attempts to ensure that Arévalo can take office on January 14 and then govern effectively. The U.S. and its partners seem to be leaning too heavily on threats of economic punishment and not enough on what they can offer a new Guatemala to grow its economy. Making the carrots as...
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