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Security & Strategic Review - June 2026
GUATEMALA: End of an era as Porras steps down
Guatemala’s now former attorney general (AG) María Consuelo Porras (2018-2026) “politicized justice like no other AG had done in 41 years of democratic rule”. This was the assessment by former US ambassador to Guatemala (2008-2011), Stephen McFarland, of Porras, whose eight-year tenure ended on 17 May. Blacklisted by over 40 countries, Porras was the most visible face of the ‘pacto de corruptos’ network of institutional corruption which President Bernardo Arévalo, whose assumption of office in January 2024 represented a break with the discredited political establishment, had pledged to root out. With Arévalo’s anti-corruption agenda hitherto hobbled by Porras’ continuance in post, his appointment of Gabriel Estuardo García Luna, an adviser to the prosecutor general’s office, has been hailed by the president and pro-democracy groups as a turning point for the country, although challenges persist.
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