Perez said he opposed CICIG’s work because it was trampling on Guatemala’s sovereignty but that Biden demanded he renew its mandate and threatened to halt USA aid to Guatemala if he refused.
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After casting her vote in Guatemala City, Torres sought to tap into the discontent surrounding the country’s political status quo by questioning Morales’ links to the army and Perez. Most voters, however, see her as part of the old political regime, which again gave the advantage to Morales. TV comic Morales and former first lady Sandra Santos will vie for Guatemala’s presidency Sunday.
Asked on Sunday what he would do if the CICIG accused him or his ministers of corruption, Morales said he would let any investigations run their course and that “neither the president nor the vice president would be exempt”.
His manifesto runs to just six pages, giving few clues as to how he might govern, and his National Convergence Front (FCN) will have just 11 out of 158 seats in the next Congress.
In his 2007 film “A President in a Sombrero”, Morales played a hayseed named Neto who almost gets elected president by making a string of empty promises, but ends up dropping out of the race and returning to his hometown.
“In the name of the Mexican people, I congratulate Jimmy Morales for his triumph in the presidential election of Guatemala”, Nieto said in a statement.
For many of Guatemala’s indigenous, this is not good news.
Prosecutors and United Nations investigators say the network collected Dollars 3.8 million in bribes between May 2014 and April 2015 – including Dollars 800,000 each to Perez and jailed ex-vice president Roxana Baldetti.
“I’m not being complacent”, stated Morales, flashing success signs & wearing a Guatemala soccer team shirt, after voting in a school within the town of Mixco, not far from the capital.
Morales won the first round on September 6, trailed by Torres. “We want a new leader who is honest, capable and produces immediate results”, said Briz, the private-sector spokesman.
As he cast his vote for president on Sunday morning, Herbert de Leon, a 49-year-old IT technician, sounded a note of cautious optimism that much-needed change may finally be coming to Guatemala.
Morales has also pledged to lower interest rates for small and medium-size business loans and promised to increase the budgets of the government Comptroller’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office to crack down on corrupt officials.
Torres, who has called Morales a “beginner” who would “improvise” as president, said she would target government spending by granting public-private concessions for jails and use 5 billion quetzals ($650 million) in already-approved loans to finance government operations in 2016.
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However, embezzlement accusations against several close relatives hurt her. But the two candidates, both from traditional political parties, are not exciting Guatemala’s newly emboldened electorate, says 23-year-old university student Andres Quezada.
