GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 14, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Bernardo Arevalo is due to be sworn

in on Sunday as Guatemala's president after warding off months of judicial
machinations to block him from office after his vow to clamp down on deep-
rooted corruption.

The 65-year-old lawmaker, ex-diplomat and sociologist pulled off a major
upset when he swept from obscurity to win elections last August, firing up
voters weary of graft in one of Latin America's poorest nations.

He has faced a constant barrage of attempts to impede him from taking office
-- at the hands of graft-accused prosecutors closely aligned with the
country's political and economic ruling class.

Arevalo has repeatedly denounced a "slow-motion coup d'etat."

Backed by the United States, European Union, Latin American countries and
international organizations including the United Nations, Arevalo is due to
replace Alejandro Giammattei.

Under Giammattei, several prosecutors fighting graft have been arrested or
forced into exile. Rights groups also accused him of cracking down on
critical journalists.

He was also accused of propping up attorney general Consuelo Porras, heading
the campaign against the newcomer alongside senior prosecutor Rafael
Curruchiche and Judge Fredy Orellana.

All three are listed as corrupt and undemocratic by the US Justice
Department.

Prosecutors have tried to overturn the election results, strip Arevalo of
immunity from prosecution, and his Semilla (Seed) party has had its
registration suspended on fraud allegations widely seen as trumped up.

- 'Uncle Bernie' -

Guatemala is ranked 30th out of 180 countries by Transparency International,
which lists nations from most to least corrupt.

It is also one of Latin America's most unequal countries, a reality that has,
along with high rates of violent crime, compelled hundreds of thousands to
risk the perilous migrant journey to the United States in hopes of a better
life.

Arevalo is the son of reformist Juan Jose Arevalo, who in 1945 became
Guatemala's first democratically elected president after decades of
dictatorship.

He was trailing far behind in opinion polls before the election, but fired up
the youth, who dubbed him "Uncle Bernie" and spread his messages and press
conferences on TikTok.

He also won the backing of the country's historically marginalized Indigenous
population, which led sustained protests against the prosecutors' attempts to
block Arevalo from office.

- 'Rebuilding democracy' -

The chess-playing, jazz-loving polyglot is facing a tricky task ruling
Guatemala.

To start with, he inherits an attorney general who "attacked and
criminalized" him and "threatened democracy to a degree we had not thought
possible," said Edie Cux of Citizen Action, a local version of Transparency
International.

"They will have the president ambushed. At the slightest misstep they will
want to lift his immunity... and remove him," added her colleague Manfrendo
Marroquin.

Arevalo himself has acknowledged there would be "difficulties, since these
political-criminal elites, at least for a time, will continue to be
entrenched in some branches of the State."

The new president would also have to deal with a deeply fragmented Congress.

"He will have to address their concerns. But you cannot expect him to come
with a magic wand. His most important and urgent task is rebuilding
democracy," former Human Rights Commissioner Jordan Rodas told AFP.