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A military-backed comedian will be the next president of Guatemala
Riding a wave of anti-establishment sentiment, Jimmy Morales — a comedian with no political experience and backed by military hard-liners — has been elected Guatemala’s next president.
Morales saw his popularity surge amid a series of corruption scandals that led to mass citizen protests, the arrest of several high-level government officials, and the resignation of former president Otto Pérez Molina this September. Capitalizing on his reputation as a political outsider, Morales achieved an unexpected first-round win in September before defeating former first lady Sandra Torres in the Oct. 25 runoff election.
Many supporters of Molina’s ouster had supported Torres over the military-backed Morales — albeit reluctantly, since she’d faced past corruption allegations herself.
Morales, like his opponent, promised efforts to promote transparency and root out corruption. But he’s drawn criticism for his vague policies, his comedy act’s reliance on racist, sexist, and homophobic tropes, and the fact that some of his backers — including the founders of his political party, the National Convergence Front (FCN) — are conservative members of the military linked to war crimes from the country’s three-decade civil conflict.
MORE HERE: http://yonside.com/a-military-backed-comedian-will-be-next-president-of-guatemala/
Morales saw his popularity surge amid a series of corruption scandals that led to mass citizen protests, the arrest of several high-level government officials, and the resignation of former president Otto Pérez Molina this September. Capitalizing on his reputation as a political outsider, Morales achieved an unexpected first-round win in September before defeating former first lady Sandra Torres in the Oct. 25 runoff election.
Many supporters of Molina’s ouster had supported Torres over the military-backed Morales — albeit reluctantly, since she’d faced past corruption allegations herself.
Morales, like his opponent, promised efforts to promote transparency and root out corruption. But he’s drawn criticism for his vague policies, his comedy act’s reliance on racist, sexist, and homophobic tropes, and the fact that some of his backers — including the founders of his political party, the National Convergence Front (FCN) — are conservative members of the military linked to war crimes from the country’s three-decade civil conflict.
MORE HERE: http://yonside.com/a-military-backed-comedian-will-be-next-president-of-guatemala/
