President of Guatemala. Leader of the centre-left Semilla party, he ran on an anti-corruption platform and won the 2023 presidential election. He took office despite efforts by attorney-general María Consuelo Porras and her allies to annul his victory by raiding polling stations and pressuring the electoral court. He has avoided direct confrontation with Ms Porras, insisting on obeying the law that empowered her; her term ended in May 2026 and her successor, Gabriel García Luna, took office on May 17th. He has pledged to root out the corruption that has long plagued Guatemalan governance, including in road-building.
Most alchemists were nervous, in any case; it came from not knowing what the crucible of bubbling stuff they were experimenting with was going to do next.