The United States has often complained to some of our Central American neighbors when unelected dictators take over a government. Lately, Guatemala has bucked the trend and freely elected Bernardo Arévalo to be their new president.

In a region where freely elected governments are hardly a given, the election in Guatemala has been a welcome signal that things could change. Hopefully, outgoing officials will feel the pressure and allow the new government to take over.

Regardless, the United States must temper any arrogance toward countries with a tradition of less than freely elected governments. After all, Donald Trump’s supporters in our last election attempted to keep him in power by insisting that he won the election despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In court case after court case, the results of Joe Biden’s election to the presidency have been validated.

Even in a country with a long history of democratically elected leaders, some would still attempt to overcome that tradition and connive to keep in power a man who lost an election.

The euphoria that followed the end of the cold war, when democracy appeared to be in the ascendency, has vanished. We are learning again how difficult it still can be for free and fair elections to be accepted.