Washington, DC
Remarks
ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you so much, Arturo [Aguilar]. And I'll come back to that fateful evening [inauguration], in just a minute. But before I do that, I just want to recognize our co-conveners, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Ford [Foundation], the Seattle International Foundation, and the Luis von Ahn Foundation for the collaboration. And really the impetus to bring this group together at this important moment – this kind of thing should happen more often and I'm really thrilled to be a part of it. I also join you, Arturo in thanking Secretary [Carlos] Mendoza for taking time away from drinking from a firehose, as we say, to be with us, and share the government's – new government's priorities for Guatemala, so we can all figure out how to plug in, with urgency. And that is something I will come back to – the urgency of this moment.
As Arturo mentioned, and some of you may know, it was exactly a month ago where I had the privilege of leading President Biden's delegation to President [Bernardo] Arévalo’s inauguration. I will say just personally that I feel very privileged – somehow in my life I've had the chance to attend, actually, many inaugurations over the years. But I can say I have never attended such a suspenseful inauguration. Normally, they sort of follow a run-of-show and it's pretty straightforward. And – but on this day, and I know many of you were tracking it from far away and Arturo from up close. But it was a surreal situation where heads of state and leaders from around the world had gathered very happily in the capital to celebrate the democratic transition.
And even knowing, you know, what had happened over the months between the election in which Arévalo was chosen and this day – still, I think there was an expectation that it would be an inauguration and it would proceed as an inauguration proceeds generally. But instead, these world leaders who found themselves pacing their hotel rooms, you know, flipping through the television channels to figure out what was going on, you know, in the National Assembly, scanning Twitter for updates and understanding – because true to form the same anti-democratic forces who had thrown up obstacles in the previous several months to prevent Arévalo from taking power up until the very last minute, were trying every procedural maneuver they could to deny the will of the Guatemalan people. And you know, I don't know how those of you who were there felt but certainly I don't think – there were periods during the afternoon, when the inauguration was supposed to already be happening, you know that I think one really had reason to doubt whether a peaceful transfer of power would actually go forward, just given the strength of the spoilers, the determination of the spoilers, etc.
In the end, the inauguration was delayed for almost 10 hours. President Arévalo finally took the oath of office after midnight – so technically, the day after Inauguration Day, I guess – but the air in the hall in which that inauguration took place was simply electric. And the chants throughout the early evening into the late evening of “sí se pudo,” when – especially when the news came in, that things were going to go forward. And, you know, you could really feel in that hall, the energy and the affirmation of the people of the country having come together, and deigned to invest again, in a democratic process. And then the sense of relief, really, I think, as much as celebration, that in the end their will would be respected, and President Arévalo would be seated. The victory and again, the energy that I'm describing, was powered largely by young Guatemalan, women, Indigenous communities, and of course, just citizen advocates for, you know, a more prosperous, lawful, less corrupt Guatemala.
And what, you know, it's really striking when you step back from the occasion of this election, and the surprise of it – really, for so many, including close Guatemala watchers – is that I think people have, you know, many, many had come to assume that after years of democratic backsliding, and amid all the corruption, and amid so many communities like those I've just mentioned, sort of not being empowered, not being tended to by elected officials over such a long period of time. There was a sense that a fatalism had kind of crept in and that people had lost faith. But instead, just amazingly, instead of losing faith as many would have had reason to do, you just saw communities organizing. Young people bringing their tech savvy to bear, you know, to help the Arévalo campaign figure out social media and how to make a difference. You saw these Indigenous communities really rise up and now feel their power – I think that's something, that they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. And there's no one voice, of course, among – within a community that has such diversity and richness. But that was incredible after – after years of disenfranchisement and neglect by the national government of their communities, for them to come out and to trust and to invest. And you know, all of it just powered by a recognition that if they didn't invest, you know, things couldn't get better. And if they did invest, yes, they may be disappointed again and again. But it was time to try to elect a government, by the people and the hopes that it will be a government for the people.
And so what I just want to concentrate on here in the last minute, before getting to the main event is, you know, maybe a perspective that comes from looking at democratic backsliding, democratic – the rare democratic openings around the world – while you all will bring in a true expertise about Guatemala itself. But you know, the main thing to just bear in mind is how rare and how precious democratic openings are these days. When a person says they are committed to reform, and then manages somehow to take office and to be elected into office. We all know that there is a window, there's a window of opportunity to make visible change, not just change, but visible change. And you know, what we know from not just distant history, but recent history, and even contemporary examples, is just how fleeting these windows of opportunity really are.
We've made a big push here at USAID to build out programming predicated on the recognition that people have to see quickly that the democracy that they place their trust in somehow, despite all the odds, that that democracy can deliver, that electing democratic governments can have a real impact on their lives and the lives of people in their communities. And, you know, that is hard in any circumstances – in advanced and established democracies. But in circumstances where leaders inherit entrenched corruption, enduring obstructionism, political polarization, you know, that ability to deliver is even tougher. And it's maybe arguably all the more necessary, all the more urgent. But, but so very hard, because of those headwinds, the same headwinds that we saw in the run up to Inauguration Day and on inauguration day itself.
So, the Guatemalan people have created for themselves, a democratic reform opening. And I think we all recognize that we have to move quickly, but also collectively, and that's why this meeting, I think, is so important, and gives me a lot of hope that we can act together, and jump together, and force multiply, you know – be more than the sum of our parts. So, that is our goal together, to extend this moment of opportunity, this window of opportunity, and to help the broad coalition that gave rise to this reform opening realize their objective, while in so doing affirming to the communities that came out and risked their lives in many cases, and certainly risked their ability in other instances to stay in the country or to avoid arrest or repression of all kinds – they took those risks and now, it's really important for there to be visible evidence that those risks were worthwhile. So they keep taking them. So they keep mobilizing on behalf of this vision.
So you are going to hear directly from Secretary Mendoza about the Arévalo administration's priorities and plans. This is a session to get into brass tax as well about where the opportunities for philanthropic organizations and other donors are. These opportunities are infinite – there's a lot of need and opportunity at the same time. So expanding healthcare would be a visible return on reform. More job training for all those young people coming online every year for whom there aren't jobs, preparing them for a very difficult job market. For Indigenous Guatemalans, to enlist them, and ensure that any economic growth and development that occurs is much more inclusive than it has been in the past. Investing in infrastructure electrification in remote areas that again have been long neglected.
And of course, working to strengthen transparent and accountable governance. And that includes, and this is something maybe the Secretary will speak to, but just the human capacity shortages. So technical support for the team of people who have come in and are really trying to move out, in some cases, very technocratically. But you know, even within entrenched ministries there are people who got used to doing things the old way. And you know, that human capacity strengthening is really, really important.
You're going to hear about how USAID is already investing more than $130 million to support these priorities, and many more. And these programs are just part of what President Biden, Vice President Harris, the entire U.S. government are planning. My hope would be that you leave this meeting with a sense of urgency, but also with some number of concrete ideas on how to tailor your support, in coordination with the Arévalo administration, with USAID, if that's appropriate, and with each other. And then, as well, you know, hope that you can leave this meeting, you know, mindful of those fleeting windows that we have seen elsewhere. On a number of them, I confess, you know, many of us in the U.S. government look back and say, you know, if we'd only only been able to move more quickly, or if we'd only been able to be more visible. Or if the government itself that was trying to make reform, had been able to make its efforts and do a better job of communicating those efforts. That's another area to plug in, is to actually help with strategic communications.
But my point is, you know, many of us see democratic openings that closed and ask ourselves, “if we had to do it over again, what would we do differently?”
Well, here's our chance. So let's do it the right way from the start and let's do it together.
Thank you.