Oscar Berger's preparation for the imminent arrival of homologue el Señor Presidente Jorge Arbusto has gone about as well as the above photo op (from El Periodico via El Canche). If massive sinkholes had to open up in Guatemala's capital, diplomatic rows had to blow up with usually friendly neighbours, and senior members of his administration had to resign, I'm guessing Berger's preference wouldn't be a few days off when George Bush decides to show up in town.

Talking of Carlos Vielman, before he resigned (along with Police Chief Erwin Sperisen- at least they offered their resignation- we're reading conflicting reports) seems he came over a tad pedantic when he stopped by at Congress:

"Tras dos horas de lectura de la lista de asesores, los diputados comenzaron a desesperarse y a pedir al presidente de la Junta Directiva del Congreso, Rubén Darío Morales, que interrumpiera a Vielmann, a lo que no accedió."

Seems bloggers are joining the welcoming parties (writing welcoming speeches, decorating the streets, etc.) as the Bush cavalcade journeys around Latin America. However, appears there's confusion about who should be thanking who.

'The American taxpayer has been very generous about providing aid in our neighborhood, and most of that aid is social justice money -- in other words, it's money for education and health,' Bush said in an interview with CNN En Espanol. Since he took office, U.S. aid to Latin America has gone from $800 million to $1.6 billion, the president said. 'And yet we don't get much credit for it,' he said. (ABC Money)

"Irónicamente el que el presidente de la nación más rica y poderosa del mundo visite una ciudad del planeta, no es gratis. Las visitas del presidente George W. Bush a Latinoamérica-tardías, en la opinión de muchos críticos-le convienen más a él que a los países que Bush eligió visitar." - Edgar Ayala - Oakland, California, EEUU

It's interesting the timing of the $80 million dollar loan from the Wolfowitz-led World Bank just announced (06-03-07). This at a time when many Latin American countries are rejecting the Washington Consensus.

Argentinian President Nestor Kirchner: "In the Paris Club they tell us: 'You must have an agreement with the International (Monetary) Fund to be able to pay the debt.' We say to them: 'Sirs, we are sovereign. We want to pay the debt but no way in hell are we going to make an agreement again with the IMF."

Guatemala seems to be embracing the Washington consensus ever more closely- hence Bush's decision to stop off at Guatemala now- and Paul Wolfowitz's visit last year. Given the chronic instability in Guatemala's own financial sector it seems ironic that it will shortly be playing host and setting the backdrop to Governors of the Interamerican Development Bank shortly after Bush's departure.

Coming back to recent events starting with the murder of three Salvadoran politicians, the backdrop for Berger's negotiations with Bush is utter lawlessness. An article in the New York Times (05-03-07) set the scene for outsiders looking in on Guatemala speculating on its possible causes:

"A high-ranking United Nations official here, who requested anonymity to protect his diplomatic neutrality, said he believed the Interior Ministry and the National Police created death squads over the last three years, trying to combat the wave of violent crime by gangs like the notorious Mara Salvatrucha, a group started in Los Angeles by the children of Central American civil-war refugees of the 1980s."

This impression has been underlined by the release of the annual pronouncement on human  rights around the world by the US State Department. Here's the intro to the 2006 report on Guatemala:

"Although the government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, serious problems remained. The human rights and societal problems included the government's failure to investigate and punish unlawful killings committed by members of the security forces; widespread societal violence, including numerous killings; corruption and substantial inadequacies in the police and judicial sectors... [more]"

All in all, it doesn't bode well for Berger being able to capitalize on his home advantage and press for the Guatemalan agenda with Bush when the two meet later this week.

Postscript

Lingering on the US State Department's report on human rights assessment country by country - begs the question - where's the report on the US? And which country gets to write it. I'm sure there's a stack of candidates who'd like to venture an opinion. In Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's words:

"We do not issue these reports because we think ourselves perfect, but rather because we know ourselves to be deeply imperfect, like all human beings and the endeavors that they make."

Whatever, it seems those in the US administration get to hang out everybody else's dirty washing- but not their own. Be more interesting if the US concentrated more on investigating its own human abuses and left international reporting to an international institution. Interesting reading the US's report on the UK- misses out (the report was published in Jan 2007) the collusion of British police with Unionist terrorists in the murders of more than a dozen people.

Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein doesn't seem to agree with the report on Guatemala- but rather than quibble over the grade given- it'd be better to question the right of the teacher to set the exam in the first place.