Guatemalans prepare for likely violent vote

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Guatemalans prepare for likely violent vote
Posted on Fri, Sep. 07, 2007

BY JULIE LOPEZ
Special to The Miami Herald

GUATEMALA CITY -- Their supporters were still planting flags in green areas and pasting fliers on any standing wall on Friday -- the last day of campaigning for 14 presidential contenders vying for the hottest seat in this volatile nation.

The heated campaign already has claimed more than 50 lives, and more violence and bloodshed is likely before polls open Sunday.

Anticipating massive protests that could derail the elections in the countryside, Interior Minister Adela de Torrebiarte launched a national security operation last week.

About 12,300 police officers will be on duty Sunday, particularly in 13 areas identified as violence-prone. Another 11,000 soldiers will join the police through Monday, according to Defense Minister Cecilio Leiva.

Polls show Otto Pérez Molina, a retired general and former military intelligence director with the right-wing Patriotic Party, in a dead heat against businessman Alvaro Colom of the center-left National Unity of Hope Party.

Nobel Laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchú is among 12 other presidential candidates on Sunday's ballot. If none wins more than 50 percent, the top two will face a Nov. 4 runoff.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/229713.html

[struggle4progress]

1. UN to send mission to Guatemala to set up body to probe illegal armed groups

7 September 2007 – A United Nations political mission will leave for Guatemala later this month to begin the preparations for establishing an independent body to investigate the presence and activities of illegal armed groups in the Central American country.

The announcement of the mission follows a meeting yesterday at UN Headquarters in New York between Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe and a senior Guatemalan delegation led by Vice-President Eduardo Stein to discuss next steps toward setting up the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).

Mr. Pascoe said that the UN attaches great importance to the Commission and will work expeditiously toward establishing it with both the personnel and the resources it needs to be effective as an independent entity designed to assist Guatemala in its fight against impunity.

When the Guatemalan Congress voted to establish the CICIG as a matter of urgency last month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon applauded the decision, saying in a statement that the country “has sent a clear message, both to its people and to the international community, that it is committed to fight crime and impunity, and to provide security for its citizens.” ...

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23738&Cr=guatemala&Cr1=

[tom_paine]

2. A dead heat with a Loyal Bushie Minion?

Looks like Bushie Florida, Ohio,. Georgia, and MEXICO redux is about to happen again.

Dare we hope that Guatemala has more trustworthy elections than Imperial Amerika.

Actually, considering "free leections" in Imperial Amerika are mostly a rigged joke, probably the Guatemalans do have a better, more trustworthy voting system than Amerika.

Although, if the Bushies have been teaching Mexican Bushies their methods for stealing elections, you've got to figure tht alla cross the world, Bushie CIA guys are teaching budding Bushie tyrants how to flip votes and suppress undesired opposition minorities from voting.

I smell another Mexico. The Bushies are like a crooked frat House Casino Night.

Dealer takes "ties".

Poor Guatemalans. The Bushies just got done murdering you by the hundreds of thouands not two decades ago. Now, they are getting ready to start on you again.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Guatemala's bloody battle for presidency

Guatemala's bloody battle for presidency
Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Sept. 8, 2007 12:00 AM

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala's blood-spattered election campaign comes to a close this weekend, with a businessman and a former general running neck and neck for the presidency of a country still rebuilding from 36 years of civil war.

The campaign has been the most violent since the signing of the 1996 peace accords, with about 50 local government candidates, legislative candidates or political activists slain in the run-up to Sunday's vote.

The verdant, mountainous Central American country is facing big problems: poverty, crime and persistent racial division between its large Mayan Indian population and the mixed-race majority.
(snip)

Colom, meanwhile, has won support with a center-left platform calling for more equality between Guatemala's mixed-race majority, known as Ladinos, and its Mayan Indians.

On Wednesday he warned against using the military to fight crime, noting that the army had committed massacres in the 1970s and 1980s in the name of law and order. He has promised to strengthen the national police, instead.

More:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0908guatemala-elex0908.html