Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Guatemala Since the Peace Accords
Any hopes for a truly just and democratic society have looked increasingly frayed in the
years since 1996. International organizations regularly criticize the state of human rights in
the country and Guatemalan human rights campaigners are threatened or simply disappear
on a regular basis. The major problems - poverty, illiteracy, lack of education and poor
medical facilities (all much more common in rural areas, where the Maya population is
concentrated) - remain a long way from being resolved.
The 1999 presidential elections were won by Alfonso Portillo of the conservative Frente
Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG). Portillo was seen as a front man for FRG leader, ex-
president General Efraín Ríos Montt. At the end of his presidency Portillo fled the country
in the face of allegations that he had diverted US$500 million from the treasury to personal
and family bank accounts. Having evaded prosecution for years, Portillo was finally
charged by the United States for laundering money using US banks, and looks set to be ex-
tradited and put on trial there.
Ríos Montt was granted permission by Guatemala's constitutional court to stand in the
2003 elections, despite the fact that the constitution banned presidents who had taken
power by coup in the past, as Ríos Montt had in 1982.
In the end Guatemala's voters dealt Ríos Montt a resounding defeat, electing Oscar Ber-
ger of the moderately conservative Gran Alianza Nacional as president. Berger managed to
stay relatively untouched by political scandal, critics saying this was because he didn't
really do
anything,
let alone anything bad.
The Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA; TLC or Tratado de Libre Comer-
cio, in Spanish) was ratified by Guatemala in 2006. Supporters claim it frees the country up
for greater participation in foreign markets, while detractors state that the agreement is a
bad deal for the already disenfranchised rural poor.
For the latest on human rights in Guatemala, visit the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA web-
site (
www.ghrc-usa.org
) or click on 'Human Rights' on the website of the US embassy in Guatemala City
Another round of elections was held in late 2007, bringing to power Álvaro Colom of the
center-leftist Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza. Colom followed Berger's example of
steady, minimalist governance and spearheaded some much needed improvements to the
