Guatemalan Foreign Minister confirms President Arévalo’s attendance at the Ibero-American Summit to Albares

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares received his Guatemalan counterpart, Carlos Ramiro Martínez Alvarado, on Tuesday, May 12. Martínez Alvarado confirmed President Bernardo Arévalo de León's attendance at the 30th Ibero-American Summit in Madrid. This is Carlos Ramiro Martínez's second visit to Spain since taking office in January 2024. His previous visit was between June and July 2025, for the Financing for Development Conference in Seville. During the meeting, according to a press release from the Ministry, Foreign Minister Martínez Alvarado conveyed Guatemala's firm commitment to the Ibero-American Community and confirmed to the Minister that President Arévalo will participate in the 30th Ibero-American Summit, to be held in Madrid on November 4 and 5 of this year under the theme “Ibero-America. Together we build our Community. Together we project it towards the future and towards the world.” For his part, Albares conveyed to his counterpart Spain's support for Guatemalan democracy and its commitment to working jointly with Guatemala to consolidate democratic stability, the rule of law, and reduce inequalities. “I am meeting with Carlos Ramiro Martínez, my counterpart from Guatemala, a sister nation,” the Minister posted on social media. “Spain supports its progress in human rights, social justice, and democracy. We share democratic values and respect for international law,” he continued. “I appreciate Guatemala's support for the Ibero-American Summit in Madrid,” he concluded. Separately, the minister highlighted the "constant commitment" of Spanish Cooperation to Guatemala. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Spain is the only European country that continues to maintain its bilateral cooperation with the Central American country within the framework of the Spanish Cooperation Master Plan 2024-2027, which includes Guatemala as a priority country. Furthermore, the Spain-Guatemala Partnership Framework 2026-2030 is in its final review and approval phase. EFE-Casa de América Forum Before meeting with Albares, the Guatemalan Foreign Minister participated in the EFE-Casa de América Forum, where he confirmed Bernardo Arévalo's participation in the XXX Ibero-American Summit and stated that the president himself had informed King Felipe VI of his intention to participate in the event during the inauguration of Laura Fernández Delgado as president of Costa Rica, which took place last Friday. According to Martínez, the Ibero-American Summit “has diminished somewhat” in recent years, but it maintains “a shared agenda and space, the space of the Americas, where cooperation, relations, and coordination among the countries are paramount.” Therefore, he stressed the need for “the entire Ibero-American community” to commit to “making it a success, together with Spain,” and for the Madrid Summit to represent “a new stage” in this regard. He also reviewed the region's major challenges, with particular emphasis on the need to defend “democracy itself.” “In some countries, we see that the spaces for democracy or for democratic expressions have been closing,” the minister warned. “The issue of security runs parallel to this,” he added. Nevertheless, the Guatemalan foreign minister affirmed that his country will always maintain good relations with those who defend democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, regardless of their ideology. “Our region is a classic example of the pendulum, of how ideological positions can swing from one moment to the next,” he stated. “If governments are the result of a valid and transparent democratic process, our task is to support each other and try to establish the best possible relationship,” he added. He also asserted that his country has a “debt” to Indigenous leaders Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán and to journalist José Rubén Zamora, who were detained for leading the 2023 protests against pressure from the Public Prosecutor's Office to overturn Arévalo's electoral victory. In this regard, the Foreign Minister expressed his hope that, with the new Attorney General, Gabriel Estuardo García Luna, “these types of cases will be completely cleared, and that they will be able to regain their freedom.”

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