The United Nations Strategic Cooperation Framework with Guatemala was signed in 2020 and since then work has been carried out on the consolidation of several objectives. With the change of government, the intention to cooperate in the development of the country is renewed.
The United Nations (UN) and its 24 agencies are in Guatemala led by Miguel Barreto, the resident coordinator, who received us in his offices to reflect on the national context and delve into the work plans they have with the country. .
At the beginning, Barreto is positive with the change of government and the climate of democracy that was consolidated with the transition; However, he is aware that there are many challenges to overcome, such as ideological polarization, although he insists that dialogue can be the way.
What are the first impressions of the UN with the new government?
There is a notable approach to the international community in general, which reflects a change in terms of the need to generate greater technical assistance, training and international support, among others.
This also has a variant, which is to recover the external public space of a country like Guatemala, which in recent years and months has been highly questioned in terms of compliance with international agreements.
So, from the perspective of the United Nations, an opportunity opens up to manage continuity in the things that have been done and to support the new government in the decisions they want to make.
In summary, what we are facing today is a possibility of renewing a programmatic and operational agenda that supports the priorities that the State, the government, has defined.
The transition process that took place provoked the reaction of different organizations and countries. Could this be a trigger to now generate better conditions to be able to work in Guatemala?
From the point of view of international law and, above all, international politics, respect for the popular vote is essential for the strengthening of democracy, and the international community, through international electoral missions, validated a legal and legitimate. Any element that goes against that popular decision creates an atmosphere of distortion.
Fortunately, on January 14 there was an orderly democratic transition and what that opens up is an expectation to be able to work better with the international community.
In the case of the UN and its network of agencies, was there some type of disconnection in that transition stage?
The financial assessment of what the United Nations does is not necessarily the essential thing. The essential thing is how what the UN does influences sustainable development, the change in public policies, and the change in technical assistance.
The relationship with previous governments always existed, because we worked through a cooperation framework that was signed in 2020, and what we did was execute the programs and projects based on that cooperation framework that were agreed upon with the State and implemented with civil society and the private sector.
The variability of funding does not depend on the bilateral relationship, but rather on the international insertion of the country and the willingness of donors to provide resources in a specific country.
Of course, our vision is that having –now– Guatemala reintegrated into the international community in a different way, with great external support, this can also have an impact on increasing cooperation.
Along these lines, during the mandate of Alejandro Giammattei, sovereignty was appealed with a position against foreign interference. How did the United Nations understand those speeches?
In a very simple way, and I have discussed it many times with the past government, including the previous president: absolute sovereignty no longer exists in any country in the world. Sovereignty is also exercised based on the obligations that States sign, and when a State signs an international obligation it has to comply with it, just as any citizen complies with the law and the agreements they sign.
That’s where the dilemma comes. The political use of sovereignty or non-interference as a mechanism is an internal discourse, but it harms international positioning.
How to prevent the country from falling into ideological discourses?
Political and ideological differences exist in all countries. The issue is to what extent they become more acute until they generate spaces of polarization in which one cannot agree even on what one agrees on. How do you address that problem? Through dialogue, through consensus building, and that requires trust.
Dialogue is the answer. There is no way to move forward without dialogue.
What should be the shortest path for the population to perceive changes?
Following the route that the Government can establish through its general plan, which I imagine will be announced in the coming days.
The United Nations will always support and is aware of the need to reinforce and strengthen the role of social protection of the State, health, education, combating malnutrition, housing, access to water and sanitation, and public infrastructure.
That is why the generation of legitimate spaces in terms of local and regional authorities is so important. Our financing will be directed to what the Government establishes along these lines, and we will also have to realign our territorial activities based on those priorities.
The private sector plays a fundamental role in this too, but we cannot work without inclusion. What exclusion generates is not development, it generates underdevelopment, it generates dependency and it also generates public insecurity.
Regarding more specific problems, such as the right to health, have you discussed with the government the possibility of expediting cooperation?
The United Nations in Guatemala and other countries also plays a role in exercising services, and there is undoubtedly ongoing conversations at this time to be able to exercise that role in very specific issues such as, for example, the issue of medicines, hospitals, and roads. .
For us, the important thing is that there is not only the Government’s interest in doing so, but also that there is a consensus with the productive sectors.
Another topic of interest is migration. How can you find solutions?
There are three important aspects. One is the immediate response, another is the need to generate consensus and the third is to attack the deep causes.
Within these three variants there are national interests. States respond at the international level based on their own interests. All countries have a vision regarding this logic.
There is no way to work on the immigration issue if it is not conceptually. But it is also important to avoid political statements; You have to work on specific issues.
How does the United Nations collaborate? In all the aspects that I have mentioned. We work directly supporting the protection of migrants through UN agencies.
Any other areas or issues in the country that are of importance or concern to the United Nations at this time?
We always see themes of opportunity. We are 24 agencies working in Guatemala. Development, food security, agricultural development, environment, migration, organized crime.
They are all aspects of what we do. If there is something that I have to move forward, it is two things: one is the environment, for which preparation and response to emergencies is essential in a country with so much vulnerability. And two, the transversal aspects, which are fundamental, such as empowerment of women and respect and protection of human rights.
Now, can that be understood as issues that we are failing to fulfill in the fulfillment of women’s empowerment and within the framework of respect for human rights? Of course.
In other words, it is not just an issue of development but of inclusion.
How can we understand these actions, one can say unprecedented, at least in recent years, of these high-level commissions coming to the country to consolidate bridges of cooperation?
There is an opening, an opening route, and all the issues that we have talked about, in one way or another, are also part of the agenda with the United Nations.
We are on that line and we will continue working in that direction, as we have done in an open, direct and neutral manner with previous governments. But it is the Government that sets the tone, it is not us.
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