Right-wing general poised to win Guatemalan presidency

Right-wing general poised to win Guatemalan presidency
With the former first lady out of the picture, ex-general Otto Perez holds a commanding lead.
Stephanie GarlowAugust 22, 2011 13:01

Former general Otto Perez looks poised to become Guatemala's next president, but may not win outright in the first round, according to a poll released today by local press.

It was the first poll conducted since his closest rival, former First Lady Sandra Torres, was officially banned from running.

Torres divorced her husband, President Alvaro Colom, to try to circumvent a provision that prohibits spouses or relatives of the outgoing leader from running for the presidency. But the Constitutional Court struck down her candidacy.

~snip~
A victory for Perez — who served in the army until 1998 and whom human rights groups accuse of wartime abuses — would put the military establishment back in control of Guatemala just as probes into the country's brutal civil war are beginning, Reuters reports.

More:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/que-pasa/elections-guatemala-nicaragua-perez

Guatemala's 'iron fist' party leads the polls

Some worry that a win by the right-wing Partido Patriota in September could mean repression and militarisation.
Danilo Valladares Last Modified: 24 Aug 2011 14:35



General Otto Perez is highly favored to win presidential elections in September (EPA)

~snip~
"People's concept of a PP government is that it would be authoritarian, especially when addressing security issues. The party logo is a raised clenched fist, and the PP is known for its support of 'iron fist' (hard-line) policies," Catalina Soberanis, the head of the Central American Institute for Political Studies (INCEP), said.

"Iron fist" policies, characterised by a repressive approach to violent crime, are all too familiar in Central America. They were enforced in El Salvador between 2004 and 2009 by then president Antonio Saca, and in Honduras from 2002 to 2006 by president Ricardo Maduro, both of whom were severely criticised by human rights organisations that accused them of excessive force and abuses against the civilian population in the name of security.

~snip~
Human rights activist Claudia Samayoa, however, disagreed. She said: "Perez's political team includes a significant number of generals and colonels with backgrounds in the intelligence service and military operations, who participated actively in the design of genocidal policies during the armed internal conflict."

Zelaya said Perez denies genocide ever took place in Guatemala, which "demonstrates a cynical attitude and insults the intelligence of Guatemalans.

"If torture, femicides (gender-based murders of women) or sexual violence are committed in future by state security forces, a Perez government would not recognise these crimes for what they are, because he has not done so with regard to the past," she said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/08/20118238316397877.html

(You notice the two Presidents mentioned for "iron fist" administrations were in place in El Salvador and Honduras during the pResidency of _{George W. Bush.})

http://i102.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/m115/hunnapuh/blog/060219_Saca_Bush_4.jpg http://nimg.sulekha.com.nyud.net:8090/others/original700/george-w-bush-tony-saca-2008-12-16-10-34-39.jpg

El Salvador's former President Tony Saca.

http://www.iniciativaradical.org.nyud.net:8090/web/wp-content/uploads//ricardo-maduro.jpg http://cdn.wn.com.nyud.net:8090/pd/7a/89/442efcdbb9fded8b3baea179299e_grande.jpg

http://www.washingtonvoz.com.nyud.net:8090/file_001/05_13_2005/issue/images/presidentes.jpg

Ricardo Maduro, Honduras, _{George W. Bush,} and Rumsfeld.

US GOVERNMENT GLOSSES OVER WAR CRIME ACCUSATIONS AGAINST LEADING GUATEMALAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
By Annie Bird, Rights Action, annie@rightsaction.org, April 27, 2011

A Wikileak State Department cable, published April 14, 2011 in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, revealed current US Ambassador to Guatemala Stephan McFarland's dismissal of the possibility that current front running presidential candidate, former General Otto Perez Molina, participated in war crimes, despite widespread evidence to the contrary.

Criminals who gained control of political and economic power in Guatemala during the US-backed military governments that followed the 1954 CIA-coup in Guatemala continue to hold power even after almost 20 years of United Nations commissions focused on disarming, exposing and prosecuting the clandestine networks of criminal power.

~snip~
McFarland's whitewashing of war crimes charges is both not surprising and extremely concerning, given that McFarland is a player in the diplomatic team assembled by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to usher in the largest "aid" package for Central American security forces since the 1980s.

Washington's plan to remilitarize Central America, via the "Merida Initiative", is dangerous. It arms militaries which were never cleaned after the "dirty" wars, and police forces that were built from recycled dirty war soldiers. The Merida Initiative partners with the institutions controlled by the parallel, criminal networks that it purports to fight. The US is willing to undermine the rule of law by overlooking, or encouraging military coups and candidacies' by dirty war soldiers.

More:
http://www.rightsaction.org/articles/US_glosses_over_PerezMolina_050211.html

~snip~
In his cable, McFarland acknowledged that Perez Molina was a former head of military intelligence and commanded the army detachment in the Department of Quiche during the conflict. These facts alone are sufficient to demonstrate Perez Molina's participation in war crimes - certainly as an intellectual author, and quite possibly as a material author; almost 300 massacres were carried in the Quiche department during the worst years of State repression and genocide.

PEREZ MOLINA IMPLICATED IN MURDER, TORTURE AND MASSACRES

In addition, journalists have implicated Perez Molina in the 1994 killing of Judge Edgar Ramiro Elias Ogaldez, who was involved in the investigation of the murders that year of two Mayan Presbyterian pastors, a crime for which military officials were being investigated, and also of the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi.

There have also been legal denouncements made to Guatemalan authorities in other cases that implicate Perez Molina. That he has never been prosecuted is not surprising given that no soldier has yet been prosecuted for the genocide and other war crimes during Guatemala's armed conflict which resulted in over 250,000 victims, according to the United Nations sponsored truth commission, ... at least 96% of those at the hands of State forces. The majority of victims were Mayan people and the overwhelming majority of victims were unarmed men, women and children.

~~~~~
Silent halocaust. Unbearable.

Please take a moment to search images for "Quiché Massacre Guatemala" or use this link:
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4TSND_enUS411US412&q=Quiche+massacre+Guatemala&biw=1092&bih=553

or: http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4TSND_enUS411US412&q=Guatemala+massacre&biw=1092&bih=553

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/media/images/41861000/jpg/_41861064_guatemala_203.jpg

Exhumed mass grave victims, removed to be buried properly.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4972804

In the early 1980s, death squads roamed the Guatemalan countryside in a war against the unarmed indigenous population that went largely unreported in the international media. Filmmakers Pamela Yates and Newton Thomas Sigel threw themselves into the task of bringing the crisis to the world’s attention by making a documentary that took them into remote areas of the country where civilian massacres were taking place. Central to their story is Rigoberta Menchú, a Maya indigenous woman who was spurred into radical action by the murders of her father and two brothers. No less admirable, however, is the courage of the filmmakers. When the Mountains Tremble, which was originally released in 1983, has been digitally re-mastered and updated since Menchú was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

http://www.hrw.org/iff/mountains-tremble

Do please find some time to watch. I can only find the subtitled version :

Guatemala Cuando Las Montañas Tiemblan 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM5uXwAVIGE&feature=rela...

Thereafter just change 1 to 2 etc.

Also see reply #2 here for how the US when helped commence nearly 50 years of tragedy in Guatemala for the benefit of the United Fruit Company and the self interests of both of the Dulles Brothers : Head of the CIA and Sec of State.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=405&topic_id=51941#51946

I know I've posted links to "When The Mountains Tremble" before but I'm blowed if I can find them now. I bought the DVD earlier this year after a dear friend gave me links to the Youtube stuff.