The Year of the Guatemalan Surprise

2023 was the year of the Guatemalan surprise. The upset victory of Bernardo Arévalo in the August 20 presidential election shook up the Central American chess board, creating a narrow democratic opening that last year seemed a far-flung improbability. Nextdoor, Nayib Bukele plowed ahead in his plan to seek unconstitutional reelection, further tilting the electoral rules in his party’s favor, while Daniel Ortega’s machine of repression lacerated all dissident faces and symbols. Honduras, mired in a political crisis, wavered between its democratic pledges and the temptations of single-family rule. El Faro English continued with its mission of explaining the most complex processes in Central America, through a combination of weekly dispatches, in-depth features and interviews, transnational partnerships, and op-eds both from the isthmus and the United States.