By Sofia Menchu
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo fired his Minister of Environment and Natural Resources on Sunday, less than 100 days into his mandate, to “avoid any doubt” about the integrity of his government, according to a press release.
Arevalo won presidential elections in August with a landslide victory after a campaign largely focused on increasing transparency and tackling endemic corruption in Central America’s most populous country.
The dismissal was the first of his mandate and comes after María José Iturbide admitted that her 28-year-old daughter had not followed vehicle use and safety protocols intended for the ministry.
The secretary general of the presidency said in a statement that Arévalo took the decision to dismiss Iturbide “to avoid any doubt about the commitment of his administration and its zero tolerance towards the misuse of state resources and to corruption.”
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City; writing by Stefanie Eschenbacher; editing by Mark Porter)
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