GUATEMALA: Alvaro Colom wins Guatemala's presidential election

Centre-leftist Alvaro Colom won Guatemala's presidential election on Sunday (November 04), denying power to a retired general who had sought to unleash the army to fight a violent crime wave. Colom, a soft-spoken textile businessman, beat General Otto Perez Molina, the former head of army intelligence, by 5.4 percentage points with more than 95 percent of votes counted. He will be sworn in on January 14, becoming the first president from the left since the end of the country's civil war in 1996, which deeply scarred this coffee-producing nation of jungles, volcanoes and Mayan ruins. Perez Molina conceded defeat in a news conference after the results had been announced. "We said that we would respect the results given by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and that we would respect the will of the Guatemalans expressed through the ballots and that is what we are doing, we are present here." The Central American country, a U.S. free-trade partner, has been plagued by violent drug cartels and youth street gangs since the end of its civil war in 1996 and now has one of the world's highest murder rates. But voters with bad memories of atrocities under military rule rejected Perez Molina's plans to send more soldiers onto the streets, boost the use of capital punishment and emergency powers to fight crime. Chain-smoker Colom, whose party symbol is a peace dove, says Guatemala will only cut crime by attacking poverty and removing corrupt police and judges. He will be the first president from the left since the end of the conflict, which deeply scarred this coffee-producing nation of jungles, volcanoes and Mayan ruins. Colom, on his third bid to win the presidency, had accused Perez Molina of seeking to take Guatemala back to the dark days of the Cold War when the military was brutal in its counter-insurgency tactics. The army ruled Guatemala for decades until the mid-1980s. More than 200,000 people died in the 36-year war with leftist rebels, many of them Mayan peasants killed in army-led massacres. "We won against all odds, against everything, because the truth was on our side, because of everyone's work and each one of you was efficient. Because we didn't cheat or deceive. I said that we would win by between 4 and 7 percent and we won by 5.2 percent," Colom said during his victory speech. The election campaign was marred by violence, with more than 50 political party activists or candidates for Congress or local elections killed. Colom's party was hardest hit with almost 20 party members murdered since last year. Colom was optimistic about his win and said that he would get to work immediately. "We will not throw away this grave responsibility that has fallen on our shoulders, and I say we (including Guatemalans). We'll start working tomorrow in order to prepare our start in office." The president-elect has admitted that drug gangsters have found their way into his National Unity for Hope party. Some voters say Colom, a bookish former deputy economy minister, is not tough enough to fight cocaine cartels, corruption and infamous "mara" street gangs which extort businesses and behead rivals. Colom defines himself as a moderate social democrat and says he is inspired by leftist presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Michelle Bachelet in Chile. He says his government would not clash with the landowning and business elites of Guatemala, a major coffee producer. Guatemala has the highest level of chronic infant malnutrition in the Western Hemisphere and one of the region's lowest tax collection rates. Several of Colom's relatives were killed during the civil war, including his uncle Manuel Colom Argueta, a presidential candidate and prominent leftist who was murdered by the military in 1979.

ITN Source | November 5, 2007

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