Mynor Rene Martinez
For Dr. Bernardo Arévalo and his team, governance will be a juggling act, because political enemies have the mandate of criticizing all their actions. That is not new, the slogan of corrupt politicians is not to move the country forward, rather it is to serve as a stumbling block.
That is why the new government must take advantage of all the opportunities presented to it to achieve its objectives, with a view to improving the quality of life of Guatemalans and boosting the country’s economy, despite the lack of maneuvers it will have in the future. Congress.
Currently, there are great international changes that can be a lifeline for Dr. Arévalo’s government. In the midst of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, both outside the American continent, the international situation is expected to cause a movement of investment capital.
To this must be added the trade war between the United States and China, which are also not very close to the national context. However, economic bullets often go over the top, as in the case of oil prices and supply chains.
In this context, there are two aspects that Guatemala and the new government can take advantage of to attract investment, the first is to attract large companies through the mechanism called nearshoringby which a transnational transfers its business processes or technology to third countries, located in destinations outside its borders, in order to reduce costs.
Although this mechanism is not new, in fact, that is what led China to be in the first position in the world in international trade, what is changing is the destination of these movements of capital and industries.
In this case, Latin America and Africa are two of the regions where large industries compete to locate, in particular Guatemala has a strategic place to attract these projects.
The problem for Guatemala is always corruption, many companies that come to carry out scouting They decide to withdraw the country from their plans, due to the “bites” that the bureaucrats, accustomed to eating up resources, ask of them, they stop scaring away investors.
This is where the new government has a great advantage, thanks to the fact that its slogan will be zero tolerance for these corrupt acts. If they make this happen, they will surely be able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by either of the two blocks that dominate the geoeconomy.
Another factor that is related to the previous one is the boost that the Mexican government is giving to its Southern region, through the projects of the Interoceanic Dry Canal and the Mayan train, among others.
Speaking on one occasion with former candidate Manuel Villacorta, he told me that there are great opportunities for Guatemala, both at an operational and professional level, because the south of Mexico will need human resources to grow. Added to this is the possibility of developing the west of the country, which borders the border.
If the new government knows how to channel it, it can even be a development pole that has a profound impact and contributes to reducing growing migration. This may also be of interest to the United States government, which can even support the growth of the region.
I hope that the politicians of the Pact of Corrupts realize that, instead of hindering development processes, they can create synergy with the Executive, to seek the prosperity of the country, which in the end is beneficial for everyone, instead of just a handful getting involved. of bills to the stock market to satisfy their greed.
