A Central American country whose president is Bernardo Arévalo.
A decade ago Guatemala was Latin America's rule-of-law beacon. The UN-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) exposed a kickback scheme run by President Otto Pérez Molina, who was forced out of office in 2015. His successor Jimmy Morales expelled CICIG in 2019 and appointed María Consuelo Porras as attorney-general; she dismantled many CICIG cases and pursued judges, prosecutors and civil-society leaders. In 2022 America sanctioned Ms Porras for corruption. Her efforts to prevent Mr Arévalo from taking office in 2023 included raiding polling stations and pressing the electoral court to annul his victory. The protest leaders Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán were charged with sedition, unlawful association and terrorism. Ms Porras's eight-year term ended in May 2026; her successor, Gabriel García Luna, took office on May 17th 2026.
Guatemala City, known locally as "Guate", is Central America's biggest city. The number of vehicles in Guatemala has risen from 3.2m to 6.2m in the past ten years. Guatemala City's emissions per commuter are the worst in Central America and third-worst in the world. Only 40% of the country's rural roads are paved. The Observatory for Cities, an initiative from the University of the Isthmus in Guatemala City, reckons congestion costs Guatemalans around 1,300 quetzals ($170) a month—more than a fifth of an average salary—and the country some $4bn annually.
In September 2025 the government published a "mobility plan" for the capital region, proposing new highways, an integrated public-transport system and encouraging cycling and remote working. In January 2026 the government signed a deal with the United States committing to spend $110m on road-building, an increase worth 5% of the entire infrastructure budget. The deal includes technical advice from the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Road-building in Guatemala has a long history of corruption; a longstanding project to build a new ring road around the capital has been stalled for years.
There are no winners in life, only survivors.