Bernardo Arévalo sworn in as Guatemala's president despite months of efforts to derail inauguration

abcnews.go.com:

Bernardo Arévalo has been sworn in as Guatemala’s president despite months of efforts to derail his inauguration, including foot-dragging and rising tensions right up until the transfer of power

GUATEMALA CITY — Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala’s president on Monday minutes after midnight despite months of efforts to derail his inauguration, including foot-dragging and rising tensions right up until the transfer of power.

Arévalo arrives in the presidency after winning August’s elections by a comfortable margin. But nothing has been straightforward since, with Attorney General Consuelo Porras and the establishment forces observers say she represents throwing one legal challenge after another at Arévalo and his party.

“It fills me with deep honor to assume this lofty responsibility, showing that our democracy has the necessary strength to resist and that through unity and trust we can change the political panorama in Guatemala,” Arévalo said in his first address as president.

Arévalo thanked Guatemala's youth for not losing hope and the country's Indigenous peoples for their support, acknowledging “historic debts that we must resolve.” He summarized his administration's guiding principle as: “There cannot be democracy without social justice and social justice cannot prevail without democracy.”

Despite hundreds of Arévalo’s supporters pressuring lawmakers to follow the constitution, even clashing with riot police outside the congress building Sunday, the inauguration process dragged for hours before he took the oath of office just past midnight.

A progressive academic-turned-politician and son of a Guatemalan president credited with implementing key social reforms in the mid-20th century, Arévalo takes office