In a Tuesday evening address to his nation, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo announced his selection of Gabriel Estuardo Garcia Luna as the country’s next attorney general. Garcia Luna, who previously served as a judge and worked as a university professor, will assume the role on May 17.
The appointment follows weeks of legal complications after Guatemala’s Constitutional Court halted the selection process and demanded a review of the candidate pool. The court’s intervention came after the initial shortlist notably excluded current Attorney General Consuelo Porras.
A judicial committee subsequently voted on a revised list of candidates before presenting their recommendations to Arevalo, enabling the president to move forward with his choice.
Porras, who has been a prominent opponent of Arevalo’s administration, faces sanctions from the United States, Canada, the European Union, and other international bodies. These penalties stem from allegations of corruption, targeting human rights activists, and attempting to interfere with Arevalo’s 2023 electoral victory. Porras has consistently rejected these charges.
During his announcement, Arevalo emphasized the need for judicial reform, stating: “This is a time to learn from our history. Justice has all too often been a tool of revenge. It is time to leave that past behind.” The president described the appointment as marking a “new chapter” and expressed hope that Garcia would bring both clarity and determination to the position.
Garcia currently works as a criminal legal advisor within the prosecutor’s office.
Arevalo stressed that the attorney general’s duty extends beyond political loyalty, explaining that the position is mandated not to serve “the incumbent president or any particular or spurious political interests, but to serve an independent and impartial justice system dedicated to the people who make up the Guatemalan nation.”
