The general election has finally passed. Since getting here, there’s been a steady ramp-up in violence perpetrated against both the citizens and politicians of Guatemala.
“But don’t worry,” everyone kept saying, “the situation will improve after the elections.”
And so this past Sunday an estimated 65% of the populace went to the voting booths and selected from ten candidates for president and hundreds more for congress and various local political offices.
Many people believed that it would be the mayoral, not the presidential, elections that would cause violent reprisals. More than 35 mayoral candidates and/or their families throughout the country have been assassinated in the preceding months (including orchestration, on at least one occasion, by a rival mayoral candidate). Because San Se’s mayor was publicly assassinated last year, as well as concerns expressed to me by my friends in town, Peace Corps decided to evacuate me and Lauren for the days immediately preceding and following the general election.
This was hardly uncommon; more than one third of the 250 volunteers in Guatemala were relocated to safer areas and told to stay put. On Friday morning I left for Aguacatán, about two hours from San Se, and stayed with friends, returning to San Se earlier this morning. It proved to be a popular spot: Including myself, there were four refugees.
For the most part it felt like a giant party. The three volunteers who were putting us all up made sure we felt welcome and relaxed. Work, mostly due to the widespread and continuing strikes, was hardly a thought, and travel outside of the municipality was forbidden by the Evacuation and Stand Fast orders issued by Peace Corps. Thus, we amused ourselves by going to the pool one day, hiking to a beautiful mountain spring the next…
On the day the election there was increased traffic on the roads as people came in from the surrounding communities to vote as mandated by law. While Aguacatán is hardly a sleepy town—I was envious to see that they have reliable sources of pancake mix—it became bloated with traje-bedecked Aguacatecos (traditional Mayan dress; people from Aguacatán, respectively). I kept expecting there to be more drama as the day progressed, but save the occasional rat-a-tat-tat of firecrackers, it seemed, as hoped, rather tame.
In order to win the presidency, a candidate must get an absolute majority of votes (50% plus 1). As the polls began reporting, it became clear that Otto Perez Molina, the heavily favored frontrunner, would fall well short of that majority, entering him into a runoff with second place finisher Manuel Baldizón scheduled for November 6th.
Controlling crime has been the greatest issue in this race, though few remember—or seem to care—that former School of the Americas graduate Perez Molina was the director of Military Intelligence during Guatemala’s lengthy civil war. Thinly-veiled accusations in the media that he ordered several of the major human rights violations perpetrated by the Army have bred skepticism that the tough-on-crime Mano Dura (Firm Hand) policy he now seeks to implement will not result in extra-judicial killings or open war in the street between the military and the equally well-armed narcos.
Baldizón, by contrast, is a wealthy business man from the department of Petén, the heavily narco-infested region of northern Guatemala that made news when 27 farmworkers were slaughtered by the Zetas in pursuit of the ranch’s owner earlier this year. He is inarguably more centrist than Perez Molina, but his strongly pro-business stance and conspicuously opaque campaign finance reports make him a question mark for the future.
But I really should get away from making statements regarding the politicians. Not only is it bad form given my overall level of knowledge on the race, but Peace Corps rightly maintains political neutrality for our safety and its continuity from one political reign to the next.
Moving on; as I mentioned, we cooked, we ate, we relaxed. Unfortunately, not all municipalities experienced as much tranquility as Aguacatán. At least four municipal offices were torched by protesters in response to real or perceived voting irregularities in Huehue alone, and dozens of similarly violent riots took place throughout the country.
When I got back to San Se I was eager for news regarding our own situation. Had violence occurred? Do we have a new mayor? Are there still chocolate- and peanut-covered frozen bananas at that store near my house?
No; yes; yes, respectively.
According to everyone I talked to, the political structure remains standing here, though the son of the deceased mayor was elected under the banner of the incumbent UNE party. Without knowing a single thing about his politics, there would seem to be a tragically heroic story in the making, of sons taking up the mantle of their slain fathers, courageously fighting the good fight against shadowy criminal forces, getting the girl in the final act…
So now we are left with greater questions: Will the future president be able to control crime? Will the threat of getting a country-wide Peace Corps evacuation diminish? Will that store near my house continue to sell choco-bananas? Only time will tell.
The photos can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/114291229338134891582/Week36?authkey=Gv1sRgCLToqt763pLm3gE
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