"The following factor which was very visible from the presidential election is the geographical spread of the vote. Colom obtained his victory [in the first round] from votes made by those in more socio-economic disadvantage, those living in rural areas and voters with low levels of education, along with a section of urbanites who fail to recognise a path for democracy in the military man Pérez Molina."
Erwin Pérez, journalist, Incidencia Democratica, http://www.i-dem.org/
"In a way, members of the status quo are more comfortable with Colom because he's manageable; however Pérez Molina even though he's been known about since his involvement in the civil war in the 1980's, continues to be an unknown quantity: a military man and politician after power who, once dominated, may be manageable, all the more when he has the military under his control.
Despite this, there are divisions within those upholding the status quo. Some members of the business community are staying with Colom, but others like Multi-Inversiones [a large agro-industrial conglomerate] have already split their support. The [Juan Luis and Felipe] Bosch branch are still upset with the attack from Pérez Molina six months ago against one of their own, Carlos Vielman [ex-Interior Minister]... But the other side of the family represented by Dionisio Gutierrez [leading Guatemalan businessman and cousin of Juan Luis and Felipe Bosch] is with the PP. "
Editorial from Informe Guatemala – Fundacion DESC, edited by Edgar Gutierrez, journalist and ex-Foreign Minister, http://www.fundadesc.org/InformeG
"It was during Libre Encuentro [current affairs television programme] from yesterday evening that Anabella Giracca raised, albeit timidly, the question of the low inclusion of women and indigenous Guatemalans amongst the candidates up for election. Swiftly the gentlemen there, chaired by Dionisio Gutierrez who was happy to have the President of CACIF there on the programme, a Spanish guy who runs the political studies faculty at the Marro [Francisco Marroquin university] and Sholon Porras influenced by his participation in various right leaning governments, didn't give the subject the time of day."
Ana María Rodas, blogger, Columna de Ana, http://anarodas.blogspot.com
"The surprising irrelevance of Rigoberta Menchú in the past election confounds the idea that racism was the basis for the rejection of her policies. Surely racism was part of it, there's no doubt, but not the most important part. Menchú lost the election totally before an electorate where indigenous Guatemalans are in the majority. What is hardest for our famous Nobel prize winner is that she's not a prophet in her land. If the elections had been in the United Nations, I bet she would have won."
Méndez Vides, journalist, El Periodico, www.elperiodico.com.gt
"Rigoberta doesn't have a mass organisation behind her, a social movement, like Evo Morales had and has in Bolivia. She doesn't have a party structure that includes many regions in Guatemala."
Ricardo Falla, anthropologist, Revista Envío, http://www.envio.org.ni
"See, not everything is fine and dandy in the paradisiac lands of Guatemala. Real democracy is still over a century behind. In Guatemala, a woman could not get elected as president, just yet, although it has happened several times in Latin America (even in Central America). In Guatemala, an indigenous person could not get elected as president, just yet, although it has happened twice in the American continent with Benito Juárez and Evo Morales. In Guatemala, a person from the left could not get elected as president, just yet, even though most countries in South America and even Nicaragua in Central America have elected people from the left."
Rudy Giron, blogger and magazine art director, La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo, http://antiguadailyphoto.com
"Both Menchú [Presidential candidate for Encuentro por Guatemala (EG)] and Nineth Montenegro [leader of EG and congresswoman] attribute the failure of their participation to racism; but this hypothesis lacks any substance from the moment you look at the facts. In Quiche, Menchú only got 2.83% of the votes. En Uspantan their votes reached 2.78%. In Alta Verapaz, Sololá and Totonicapan, that like in Quiche where indigenous Guatemalans are in the majority, got 3.22%, 5.05% and 7.95% of the votes. If racism was a factor of any kind of importance, are the indigenous Guatemalans who didn't vote for Menchú racist? Another doubt that's worth mentioning is: of the sad 2.83% how many of the votes are for Menchú and how many for Montenegro."
Luis Figueroa, journalist for Prensa Libre and blogger on Carpe Diem, http://luisfi61.blogspot.com
"The election on 9th September in Guatemala demonstrated the absolute hegemony of the local oligarchy over the doings of the political parties. Financing of the parties and having their people in position such as vicepresidential candidates, the oligarchy managed to get two right wing options through to compete in the second round.
Perhaps the good thing about all this is that, at last, the agony of the mummified left is accelerated, and Menchú has just shown herself to be what she's always been: an ideological con based on playing the victim for external consumption.
These thoughts hold to a conviction that it's better to tackle the problems as they are, and not offer solutions full of false hope and self-deception. It's not possible to go any lower. We on the left have to start to get up on our feet but without international cooperation, and with the full engagement of the grass roots and to be able to represent the Guatemalan people."
Editorial, Albedrio, http://www.albedrio.org
"For what Rigoberta has built, it's not strange that in a country as class riven that the right would reject or use her; that in a country so racist the left would attack her; that in a country so macho her brothers would question her legitimacy and that in a country with so little conscience her sisters would envy her. Despite it all, Rigoberta returned to break the mould."
Irmalicia Velásquez Nimatuj, journalist, El Periodico, www.elperiodico.com.gt
"It fell on us like a bucket of cold water, the last opinion poll in Prensa Libre [national newspaper] that projected the triumph of Otto Pérez Molina in the second round. An ignorant people and without memory gets dangerously close to the killer again thanks to indolence, cowardice and mediocrity of those who could avoid it...
The consequences of the now inevitable conflict aren't limited to electoral skirmishing, they'll become much more palpable in four more years of poisoning of an already putrid [political] environment, four more years of confrontation should Pérez Molina win an imminent return to the past and consolidation of impunity. As much as he'd like to distance himself, Pérez Molina isn't really any different from Rios Montt. He's got his hands stained with the same blood."
Quintus, blogger, Hunahpú e Ixbalanqué, http://hunapu-e-ixbalanque.blogspot.com
"[The candidates] policies are stuck in a wider policy that perpetuates the status quo of Guatemalan politics for four more years and will continue corrupting the weak Government institutions that make up the young democracy in Guatemala. For this reason no candidate is worthy of my vote and much less will I be prepared to vote for the one "that's the least worst option"."
Guillermo Pineda, blogger, Homo Homini Lupus, http://homohominilupus.wordpress.com/
"Yes, I know that all the candidates are the worst possible option, but you've got to vote.
Yes, I know that it seems that not even liquidizing the candidates gets anything decent from any of them, but you've got to vote
Yes, I know that we're convinced that it's all the same whether you vote or don't, but you've got to vote.
Yes, I know that after all the experiences of the past where we've felt conned, insulted and tricked, but you've got to vote."
El Ruletero, blogger, http://papataz29.blogspot.com
"These weeks before the second round can also be a chance to do something innovative, never before done in Guatemala, but common in other countries: [build] a coalition government. In exchange for support one of the candidates could concede places in their cabinet to the other party and form a coalition government...
We're ready to witness whether the political parties and politicians who lead them have reached a level of maturity, where on the one hand, they all opt for a respectful and honourable campaign, while on the other, they're preparing the conditions to govern the country, and hopefully reach agreements that lead to development."
María Guerra, journalist, Este Pais (online magazine), www.este-pais.com
Erwin Pérez, journalist, Incidencia Democratica, http://www.i-dem.org/
"In a way, members of the status quo are more comfortable with Colom because he's manageable; however Pérez Molina even though he's been known about since his involvement in the civil war in the 1980's, continues to be an unknown quantity: a military man and politician after power who, once dominated, may be manageable, all the more when he has the military under his control.
Despite this, there are divisions within those upholding the status quo. Some members of the business community are staying with Colom, but others like Multi-Inversiones [a large agro-industrial conglomerate] have already split their support. The [Juan Luis and Felipe] Bosch branch are still upset with the attack from Pérez Molina six months ago against one of their own, Carlos Vielman [ex-Interior Minister]... But the other side of the family represented by Dionisio Gutierrez [leading Guatemalan businessman and cousin of Juan Luis and Felipe Bosch] is with the PP. "
Editorial from Informe Guatemala – Fundacion DESC, edited by Edgar Gutierrez, journalist and ex-Foreign Minister, http://www.fundadesc.org/InformeG
"It was during Libre Encuentro [current affairs television programme] from yesterday evening that Anabella Giracca raised, albeit timidly, the question of the low inclusion of women and indigenous Guatemalans amongst the candidates up for election. Swiftly the gentlemen there, chaired by Dionisio Gutierrez who was happy to have the President of CACIF there on the programme, a Spanish guy who runs the political studies faculty at the Marro [Francisco Marroquin university] and Sholon Porras influenced by his participation in various right leaning governments, didn't give the subject the time of day."
Ana María Rodas, blogger, Columna de Ana, http://anarodas.blogspot.com
"The surprising irrelevance of Rigoberta Menchú in the past election confounds the idea that racism was the basis for the rejection of her policies. Surely racism was part of it, there's no doubt, but not the most important part. Menchú lost the election totally before an electorate where indigenous Guatemalans are in the majority. What is hardest for our famous Nobel prize winner is that she's not a prophet in her land. If the elections had been in the United Nations, I bet she would have won."
Méndez Vides, journalist, El Periodico, www.elperiodico.com.gt
"Rigoberta doesn't have a mass organisation behind her, a social movement, like Evo Morales had and has in Bolivia. She doesn't have a party structure that includes many regions in Guatemala."
Ricardo Falla, anthropologist, Revista Envío, http://www.envio.org.ni
"See, not everything is fine and dandy in the paradisiac lands of Guatemala. Real democracy is still over a century behind. In Guatemala, a woman could not get elected as president, just yet, although it has happened several times in Latin America (even in Central America). In Guatemala, an indigenous person could not get elected as president, just yet, although it has happened twice in the American continent with Benito Juárez and Evo Morales. In Guatemala, a person from the left could not get elected as president, just yet, even though most countries in South America and even Nicaragua in Central America have elected people from the left."
Rudy Giron, blogger and magazine art director, La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo, http://antiguadailyphoto.com
"Both Menchú [Presidential candidate for Encuentro por Guatemala (EG)] and Nineth Montenegro [leader of EG and congresswoman] attribute the failure of their participation to racism; but this hypothesis lacks any substance from the moment you look at the facts. In Quiche, Menchú only got 2.83% of the votes. En Uspantan their votes reached 2.78%. In Alta Verapaz, Sololá and Totonicapan, that like in Quiche where indigenous Guatemalans are in the majority, got 3.22%, 5.05% and 7.95% of the votes. If racism was a factor of any kind of importance, are the indigenous Guatemalans who didn't vote for Menchú racist? Another doubt that's worth mentioning is: of the sad 2.83% how many of the votes are for Menchú and how many for Montenegro."
Luis Figueroa, journalist for Prensa Libre and blogger on Carpe Diem, http://luisfi61.blogspot.com
"The election on 9th September in Guatemala demonstrated the absolute hegemony of the local oligarchy over the doings of the political parties. Financing of the parties and having their people in position such as vicepresidential candidates, the oligarchy managed to get two right wing options through to compete in the second round.
Perhaps the good thing about all this is that, at last, the agony of the mummified left is accelerated, and Menchú has just shown herself to be what she's always been: an ideological con based on playing the victim for external consumption.
These thoughts hold to a conviction that it's better to tackle the problems as they are, and not offer solutions full of false hope and self-deception. It's not possible to go any lower. We on the left have to start to get up on our feet but without international cooperation, and with the full engagement of the grass roots and to be able to represent the Guatemalan people."
Editorial, Albedrio, http://www.albedrio.org
"For what Rigoberta has built, it's not strange that in a country as class riven that the right would reject or use her; that in a country so racist the left would attack her; that in a country so macho her brothers would question her legitimacy and that in a country with so little conscience her sisters would envy her. Despite it all, Rigoberta returned to break the mould."
Irmalicia Velásquez Nimatuj, journalist, El Periodico, www.elperiodico.com.gt
"It fell on us like a bucket of cold water, the last opinion poll in Prensa Libre [national newspaper] that projected the triumph of Otto Pérez Molina in the second round. An ignorant people and without memory gets dangerously close to the killer again thanks to indolence, cowardice and mediocrity of those who could avoid it...
The consequences of the now inevitable conflict aren't limited to electoral skirmishing, they'll become much more palpable in four more years of poisoning of an already putrid [political] environment, four more years of confrontation should Pérez Molina win an imminent return to the past and consolidation of impunity. As much as he'd like to distance himself, Pérez Molina isn't really any different from Rios Montt. He's got his hands stained with the same blood."
Quintus, blogger, Hunahpú e Ixbalanqué, http://hunapu-e-ixbalanque.blogspot.com
"[The candidates] policies are stuck in a wider policy that perpetuates the status quo of Guatemalan politics for four more years and will continue corrupting the weak Government institutions that make up the young democracy in Guatemala. For this reason no candidate is worthy of my vote and much less will I be prepared to vote for the one "that's the least worst option"."
Guillermo Pineda, blogger, Homo Homini Lupus, http://homohominilupus.wordpress.com/
"Yes, I know that all the candidates are the worst possible option, but you've got to vote.
Yes, I know that it seems that not even liquidizing the candidates gets anything decent from any of them, but you've got to vote
Yes, I know that we're convinced that it's all the same whether you vote or don't, but you've got to vote.
Yes, I know that after all the experiences of the past where we've felt conned, insulted and tricked, but you've got to vote."
El Ruletero, blogger, http://papataz29.blogspot.com
"These weeks before the second round can also be a chance to do something innovative, never before done in Guatemala, but common in other countries: [build] a coalition government. In exchange for support one of the candidates could concede places in their cabinet to the other party and form a coalition government...
We're ready to witness whether the political parties and politicians who lead them have reached a level of maturity, where on the one hand, they all opt for a respectful and honourable campaign, while on the other, they're preparing the conditions to govern the country, and hopefully reach agreements that lead to development."
María Guerra, journalist, Este Pais (online magazine), www.este-pais.com
