With only 12 days left until Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei hands over to President-elect Bernardo Arévalo, at least five of his campaign promises remain unfulfilled.

The administration of the representative of the Vamos party has been questioned during these four years for multiple issues, including the management of Covid-19 and the supply and application of Sputnik vaccines against the disease. In addition, his role in the crisis caused in the country by corruption and the actions of the Public Ministry against the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the winner of the last elections, with the denounced purpose of preventing Arevalo from becoming head of state.

Local media now recall that he raised his intention to dissolve the Secretariat of Administrative Affairs and Security, created in 2000 to permanently guarantee the protection of the president, the vice-president, their families, and former presidents.

In 2020 an initiative was presented to the Congress (unicameral) to comply with this; however, this action was stalled in the legislative body and the institution continued to operate and incur high expenses.

Giammattei expressed, on the other hand, that he would request the withdrawal of the nation from the Central American Parliament, considering its impact null and void and referring to an unnecessary expenditure of funds.

Guatemala, however, continues as the seat and member of the regional integration entity and the president on January 14, hours after leaving his executive chair, will be sworn in as a deputy of that forum, which would extend his immunity.

In this sense, analysts warned, the extraordinary session will be virtual, so Giammattei will avoid being exposed to booing as happened to his predecessor, Jimmy Morales (2016-2020).

Another of his announcements, the construction of four prisons to reduce overcrowding in the system, was taken up again in January of this year when the Interior Ministry approved a contract for the design and construction of one of them.

A fourth point, as described by the newspaper Prensa Libre, is related to the idea of «zero potholes» in the roads at national level, which remain with recurrent sinkholes in the rainy season and the consequent effects on the citizenship and the economy.

The President addressed the construction of 16 Bicentennial Schools in different parts of this Central American territory, of which only one, located in the department of Escuintla, was completed.

Giammattei sent a message to the country last Sunday, as closing of the year and eve of the new one, to highlight «the achievements» of his administration and to affirm that he left «a better Guatemala than the one he found».