Social Democrat Alvaro Colom elected Guatemala's president

[Up2Late]

Source: AFP

Social Democrat Alvaro Colom elected Guatemala's president

05/11/2007 05h02

GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) - Social Democrat Alvaro Colom was elected Guatemala's new president Sunday, promising a new beginning and a broad political dialogue to confront the Central American country's economic and social problems.

With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Colom, won 52.7 percent of the vote, or 140,000 ballots more than his rival, retired general Otto Perez Molina, according to official poll results released here by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

That made Colom virtually unreachable by Perez Molina, who promptly conceded defeat. "I was certain I had won," Colom, 56, told reporters. "When you have a good plan, when you stick to the principles and values of an institution you achieve success, even if you are up against many forces."

He said his first job as president, when he takes over from President Oscar Berger on January 14 will be to call all of Guatemala's political parties and social groups together to decide how the country is to be governed....

Read more: http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/071105050240.c5mm0wx5.html

---

I hope this call isn't premature, before the 2000 sElection, this would have seemed final, but now...

[Ken Burch]

1. Hope the guy is allowed to live to see the end of his term

And is able to do something at least slightly progressive or humane. The Guatemalan military and wealthy, with their allies in Washington, will almost certainly try to kill him.

Hugo should offer him some assistance and maybe a deal on fuel oil. Colum will need it.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Yeah, I know what you mean. And look what the fascists did in Mexico last year

--a hairsbreadth loss--0.05%--by the best candidate, Amlo, in a highly contested, and probably stolen, election. And the stakes are very high for the Bush Junta. They need buffer states between us and the Bolivarian Revolution (lest we get any ideas). And their skins (Bush, Cheney, et al) could possibly be on the line, as to their "loss" of South America. The Corporate Rulers have so far immunized them for their many crimes, and I have a feeling that their securing of Colombia and Mexico for continued illicit drugs and weapons operations, and Peru and Costa Rica (of all places) for thorough "free trade" looting, are parts of a deal for further immunity. Putting a real bad dude (former death squad commander, Molina) in charge of Guatemala could be a high priority for the Bushites (although his opponent, Colom--who seems to be winning--is not the leftist, and democrat with a small d, that Amlo is).

I would think AFP would be pretty careful about announcing a winner. But I'm with you. Wait and see. Amlo 'lost' the election in Mexico in the middle of the night, in very cloudy circumstances.

This has been one of the bloodiest elections in the western hemisphere, and maybe the world. FIFTY political candidates, their campaign workers or family members, have been murdered in Guatemala during this campaign. And Molina, like Bush, was capitalizing on the mayhem, and offering a police state crackdown as the answer. The previous police state crackdown resulted in the slaughter of 200,000 Mayan villagers--in the 1980s, with Reagan's complicity. The fascists couldn't care less about murders and drugs and weapons dealings (as long as they get their cut). They are kin to the bastards running Colombia. Their intention is to kill union organizers, leftists, community leaders, indigenous groups--all dissent, and every hope of democracy.

Cheers for Guatemala, if the people have managed to win this one! Colom will be far, far better on human rights than Molina, and Colom has a good VP as well. Both of them seem to be committed to helping the poor, if not to empowering them.

[cyclezealot]

3. and hope Bush does not want to overthrow his new government

Anyone know Colom's position on Cafta?

[Judi Lynn]

5. They already signed on, but Colom, himself a businessman, is not gung ho free trade

in the manner of the right-wingloon.

Found this small bit in the beginning of an article in Latin Business Chronicle. There's more to the article, but you have to be a paying subscriber to get it. This snippet does give a decent short look at him, however:

While Colom attacks capitalism, Molina Perez pledges to boost Guatemala's competitiveness through more free trade agreements and stronger judicial security. "The General hopes to boost foreign investment in Guatemala with market-friendly policies," says Giancarlo Ibargüen, president of the widely-respected Francisco Marroquin University. "Perez Molina's economic policies are more free-market than Colom's."

Colom, a 56-year old engineer, says that "capitalism is good at creating wealth, but is bad at distributing it." He also says that "the capitalists or the bourgeois are slaves to their wealth, and the poor are slaves to their poverty," according to a statement on UNE's web site. Therefore Colom advocates...
(snip/)

http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=1605

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Helpful look at the indigenous population's view of the gross imposition of CAFTA measures:

The Mayan peasant communities are taking their issues against CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement), mining licenses and local property taxes to the city and federal governments. "But they don't want to hear us. We need a democracy that can speak our language ", a member of the community declared in his mothertongue Quiché Maya.

It is also from their mountains that Mayan peasants resist CAFTA and the invasion of genetically modified seeds. Through the support of national groups and the solidarity of international friends, Mayan groups have organized plebiscites against the implementation of mining operations on their land. However, the government has not accepted these democratic expressions of the people. For many government officials, local communities have no stake in decisions on how natrual resources are to be used. Their logic is that this is because it is a "national" resource, not a community good.

The Mayan peasants want to be able to voice their opinions in their first language, and also to be heard. In Guatemala, there are 22 different Mayan languages, plus two other indigenous non-Mayan languages, the Garifuna dialect and Spanish. However, the exclusion of indigenous peasant communities in the democratic process is a reflection of social segregation and discrimination, not just a language barrier.
(snip)

http://www.grassrootsonline.org/blog/we-need-democracy-can-speak-our-language

[cyclezealot]

7. thanks.

[LeftishBrit]

4. Encouraging news! I hope that things start to improve there.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Guatemalan businessman wins presidential election

Guatemalan businessman wins presidential election
Posted on Mon, Nov. 05, 2007Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY -- Alvaro Colom, a businessman promising to end Guatemala's desperate poverty, won the country's presidential election Sunday.

Colom beat retired Gen. Otto Perez Molina, who conceded defeat after results from 97 percent of the vote showed him trailing Colom by 6 percentage points in the two-man runoff.

''I am the nation's president elect,'' Colom, of the center-left National Unity of Hope Party, told cheering supporters.

Colom had nearly 53 percent of the vote, while Perez, of the conservative Patriotic Party, had 47, according to results published on Guatemala's Electoral Tribunal Web site.

Perez acknowledged that Colom's lead was insurmountable.

''We are going to be a constructive opposition,'' said Perez, who ran on a tough anti-crime platform. ``We're willing to keep fighting the war against impunity, the war against corruption and against violence.''

Colom, a 56-year-old former vice economy secretary and ordained Mayan minister, promised jobs, a judicial overhaul and increased social spending in Guatemala, where more than half of the country's 13 million people live on less than $2 a day.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/942/story/296190.html

[Acadia Blue]

8. They try, and then the real power people threaten them or bribe

them. These countries need an "American style revolution," or better A French revolution with "off with their heads," of all the greedy aristocrats and corrupt politicians.