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Arevalo won the presidency by a wide margin. In the 1944 elections, he received 256,514 votes, while his closest competitor, Adrián Recinos, barely managed 20,550.
During his administration, the Labor Code was enacted, the IGSS (National Social Security Program) was created, and the Industrial Development Law was approved, among other reforms. One of his main efforts was public education.
As a democrat and educator, Arevalo was convinced of the need for a profound reform of education, which, in addition to promoting technical and scientific development, would have a strong ethical and moral content.
In fact, Arevalo's idea of democracy was based on the need to develop a robust citizenship, which required an education that fostered the development of mutual respect and the critical thinking capacities of citizens. A robust citizenship could only go hand in hand with a process of deepening democracy, which implied the self-organization of the working classes, hence the Labor Code was a key element in its development.
This process was broken in 1954. The democratic revolution was broken by the US intervention and a military coup d'état. Democracy was perverted in Guatemala.
After that, the government and State served to provide a “legalistic” cover to a corrupt and repressive system, designed to guarantee the interests of the oligarchy and global capital – capital that today is also linked to drug trafficking.
2023
It can be understood then why Arevalo's dream is a nightmare for the hegemonic power. Not only are they afraid that a government headed by his son will put an end to the political and social decomposition caused by a system that generates power to benefit only a few, but also that through these cracks that open up in the history of domination, the airs of a [new democratic] spring could filter through.
Antagonism has memory: for the powerful, it is to act against any change that may come from below; for us, memory is forged by resistances where the hope for change has not been extinguished.
Author: Sergio Tischler Visquerra was born in Guatemala. He has a degree in History and a PhD in Latin American Studies. He is a researcher-associate professor at the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities "Alfonso Vélez Pliego" of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico.
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