A television comedian with no prior political experience won Guatemala’s presidential election by a landslide on Sunday, capitalizing on a corruption scandal that engendered national hostility toward the country’s ruling old guard.
Forty-six-year-old Jimmy Morales, who once played a hapless cowboy who accidentally becomes President, took more than 72% of the vote, easily defeating his opponent, former First Lady Sandra Torres, Reuters reported.
“As President, I received a mandate, and the mandate of the people of Guatemala is to fight against the corruption that is consuming us. God bless and thank you,” Morales said as he watched the votes come in.
Morales had been atop the election polls since early September, after President Otto Pérez Molina stepped down in the face of a bribery scandal. Pérez Molina is now in a military prison, and a comic actor has taken his place — a sign, many say, of a long-standing frustration with Guatemala’s political elite reaching its boiling point. Voter turnout was low.
“We are tired of the same faces,” Ana Fuentes, a street seller, told Reuters. “Jimmy Morales doesn’t really convince me; I was not even going to vote. But he is the only option.”
Morales has attracted scrutiny for his lack of political experience, with some saying his campaign simply capitalized on popular distrust of the government to ensure an outsider’s victory.
“He has no program and no team,” said Hugo Novales, a Guatemalan political analyst. “But discontent is so high that those issues aren’t a priority for your average voter.”
Confronting Guatemala's Violent Past and Fragile Peace
On the way to the cemetery to bury the 77 victims of the Covadonga massacre. Estrella Polar, Chajul.Daniele VolpeExhumation in Xe'Xuxcap, NebajDaniele VolpeDuring an exhumation in Xe'Xuxcap, Nebaj.Daniele VolpeFeliciana Bernal stands between the trenches dug by forensic anthropologists in Xe'Xuxcap, Nebaj. She is looking for her one year-old son, who died over 30 years ago.Daniele VolpeThe entire community of Xecol, Chajul, receives the remains of one of the victims murdered by the Army in 1986.Daniele VolpeExhumation in the former military base in Xolosinay, Cotzal. Here, forensic anthropologists found 65 bodies in various mass graves.Daniele VolpeA tombstone in memory of the children murdered in the Covadonga massacre. Estrella Polar, Chajul.Daniele VolpeIn the outskirts of Chajul.Daniele VolpeFamily members await the burial of a skeleton recovered in an exhumation. Xecol, Chajul.Daniele VolpeFirewood sellers in a Nebaj street.Daniele VolpeGraffiti on wall in Nebaj reads, “Rios Montt is a murderer.”Daniele VolpeDuring the August 15th festivities, Nebaj Patron Saint Day.Daniele VolpeBox that contains skeletons exhumed by forensic anthropologists in Amajchel, Chajul, before being returned to their family members.Daniele VolpeForensic experts study the skull and other remains found in a clandestine grave. The needles indicate that the cause of death were four bullet wounds. Experts believe the victim was executed.Daniele VolpeSkeletons are studied in the laboratory of the Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala.Daniele VolpeEx-dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, appears in front of judge Yassmin Barrios during the genocide trial where he is the main defendant.Daniele VolpeMiguel Pérez, 32. Shot by soldiers in Pal when he was looking for food in the mountains.Daniele VolpeEulalio Noriega Noriega, 38. From Chajul. Kidnapped on the road to Pulay on August 15, 1983.Daniele VolpeMiguel Terraza Raimundo, 27. Shot by the Army in Vicalamá village, while he tried to escape with his family on January 22, 1983.Daniele VolpeDomingo Rodriguez, 15. He accompanied his father to the Xolosinay military base in Cotzal to pick up a flag that they had to place on the roof of their house to prevent planes from bombarding it. He has been 'disappeared,' along with his father, since January 31, 1982.Daniele VolpeBaltazar Maton Terraza, 80, and Catarina de Paz, 78, husband and wife. She died in the Vicalamá mountain on August 22, 1982. He died in the Amajchel mountains on February 1988. Both were members of the CPR and died of starvation and cold.Daniele VolpeNicolas Raimundo, 45. Kidnapped in the San Francisco plantation at 11 p.m. on September 9, 1981.Daniele Volpe
