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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| General Perez Molina wins election in Guatemala |
| 2011-11-07 |
| For a map click here A retired army general and intelligence operative has won the presidency of Guatemala in a run off election Sunday, according to Guatemalan news accounts. General Otto Perez Molina of the Partido Patriota (PP) won 2,106,023 votes or 54.89 percent of ballots cast versus his opponent, populist industrialist Manuel Baldizon of the Libertad Democratica Renovada (LIDER) coalition, who won 1,731,082 votes or 45.11 percent of ballots cast. Both candidates survived the general election in September in an election marked by turnout averaging almost 60 percent. Perez Molina is considered a conservative and a hardliner who has promised a dura firma or firm hand in dealing with drug related violence. Molina was head of the Guatemalan army intelligence agency during the turbulent 1980s, during the Guatemalan civil war. The election marks the end of the presidency of Alvaro Collom, a center-left president associated with the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) coalition. UNE failed to run a candidate because of the antics of Sandra Torres, Collum's wife. Her bid to run was ended by a Guatemalan high court, which ruled that even with a divorce, she could not run for president. The balloting was marked by relative calm, although Baldizon was forced to go to Petain department after receiving death threats. Guatemala is suffering a wave of drug related violence from both Mexican drug gangs such as Los Zetas and Gulf cartel operatives as well as local drug gangs. |
| Posted by:badanov |
