Guatemala’s New President Speaks Hebrew, Lived for a Decade in Israel

While he looks back fondly on his Israeli experiences, the center-left Arevalo doesn’t necessarily align with every stance of the current Israeli government,

By United with Israel Staff

Bernardo Arevalo, the son of a previous president, won the recent elections in Guatemala to become the central American nation’s next president. The election was not without controversy, with several opposition candidates being disqualified, but Arevalo’s commitment to combatting corruption saw him triumph over Sandra Torres, the country’s former first lady, perceived by many to be tainted.

Despite the modest Jewish presence in Guatemala, estimated to be just around 900 individuals, the president-elect’s ties to Israel and the Jewish community stand out. Here’s a snapshot of those ties, as reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

– Juan Jose Arevalo, Bernardo’s father, etched his name in history in 1945 as Guatemala’s pioneering democratically-elected leader. Under his watch on May 14, 1948, Guatemala was among the first countries to acknowledge Israel’s statehood. He later took up the mantle of Guatemala’s ambassador to Israel when he left office.

– The Hebrew University of Jerusalem lists Bernardo as one of its alumni. He recently said he still cherishes the friendships formed during his academic sojourn in Israel.

– His ties to Israel further solidified during his tenure at the Guatemalan embassy in Tel Aviv, where he took on key roles from the mid to late ’80s, including first secretary, consul, and later minister counsellor. Arevalo remarked the significance of his decade-long stay there in an interview with Israeli media, saying, “Israel is a country for which I have great affection. I lived 10 years of my life in Israel. They were very important years.” In 2018, Guatemala became the second country to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after the Trump administration made the move. Notably, though, Arevelo at the time expressed his opposition to the move, saying it violated international law. The question of whether he’ll maintain this new embassy location or revert to its previous site remains up in the air.

– Arevalo is proficient in Hebrew. A video clip that made its rounds on TikTok showcased Arevalo’s command over the Hebrew language, drawing notable attention with hundreds of thousands of views.

– While he looks back fondly on his Israeli experiences, the center-left Arevalo doesn’t necessarily align with every stance of the current Israeli government, JTA noted in its report. In 2022, he convened with Palestinian embassy representatives in Guatemala. Post this interaction, he took to social media, emphasizing his vision of a two-state solution. “Today we met with the Ambassador of Palestine and we reiterated that the solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is the creation of a state for each people, within the framework of international law and peace negotiations with multilateral support.”