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this regard, with various infrastructure projects being completed during his term in office.
Guatemalanswidelyrecognizehishardworkbackedbyaconcretelistofaccomplishments,
and he is still popular in opinion polls. If Guatemala were to ever allow former presidents
to run in elections, it is speculated that Arzú might give opponents a run for their money.
Arzú also privatized many state entities, including the notoriously inefficient telephone
company, as part of a neoliberal economic approach to state participation in the economy.
Guatemala's telecommunications laws have subsequently been heralded for their contribu-
tionstovastimprovements inservice coverage, increased competition, andlowered prices.
At the end of Arzú's presidency, however, many critics pointed to a perceived affinity for
serving the interests of Guatemala's wealthy elite, a criticism his successor would play
largely to his advantage at the polls in the 1999 election campaign.
Alfonso Portillo and the “Corporate Mafia State”
Duringthe1999elections,AlfonsoPortilloranonapopulistticket,hopingtolurethelower
classes away from his main opponent, who was fashioned after Arzú. He promised to cut
povertybyendingcorruptionandtaxevasion.Hisparty,theFrenteRepublicanoGuatemal-
teco (FRG, Guatemalan Republican Front), was actually the brainchild of Ríos Montt, the
mastermind behind some of the worst atrocities against Guatemala's indigenous peoples
during the army's scorched-earth campaign of the early 1980s. He was forbidden, once
again, from running in the election. It never stopped him from trying.
Anotherimportantcampaignissue,andonePortilloplayedmasterfully tohisadvantage,
was citizen safety in the face of skyrocketing crime rates. A long-past incident in Mexico,
wherebyPortillokilledtwomeninself-defensebeforefleeingthecountry,wasdugupdur-
ingthe campaign butactually workedinhisfavorinmachismo-dominated Guatemalan so-
ciety.Portilloplayedofftheincidentasevidencethathewaswillingandabletotakeahard
stance on crime.
History has not been kind in its assessment of the Portillo administration. It can be con-
fidently stated without fear of exaggeration that the Portillo administration was one of the
worst, if not
the
worst, of Guatemala's governments to date. Among the elements of his
atrocious legacy was the solidifying of what analysts have called the “Corporate Mafia
State,” defined in a February 2002 Amnesty International report as, “The 'unholy alliance'
between traditional sectors of the oligarchy, some 'new entrepreneurs,' elements of the po-
lice and military, and common criminals.”
Among the few achievements under the Portillo administration was the 2001 conviction
ofthreepersonsinvolvedintheGerardimurder.Althoughtwomilitaryofficersandapriest
were tried and convicted of the murder, the general consensus was that the intellectual au-
