Page 12 - aruba-today-20190615

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 15 June 2019
Campaign chaos sows disillusion ahead of Guatemala vote

By SONIA PÉREZ D. unemployment, violence,
Associated Press corruption, rising costs of
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — living and the shoddy state
The road to Sunday’s presi- of the country’s highways.
dential election in Guate- Outgoing President Jimmy
mala has been a chaotic Morales has not found an-
flurry of court rulings and swers during his four-year
shenanigans, illegal party- administration, and there’s
switching and allegations plenty of skepticism that
of malfeasance that torpe- anyone on the ballot will
doed the candidacies of do any better.
two of the top three candi- “If I don’t have work, I don’t
dates. eat. Nobody helps,” Co-
Observers say the result jolón said. “The candidates,
is widespread disillusion no, they all offer things but
and distrust in the elec- nobody follows through.”
toral process in this small Three of the last four elect-
Central American country ed presidents — including
that has seen hundreds of Colom, Torres’ ex-husband
thousands flee poverty and — have been arrested
gang violence in recent post-presidency on charg-
years in a bid for a new life Sandra Torres, presidential candidate of the National Unity of Hope party, UNE, waves to supporters es of corruption. Graft alle-
in the United States. during her closing campaign rally prior to Sunday’s general elections, in Villanueva, Guatemala, gations have also targeted
Polls favor former first lady Friday, June 14, 2019. President Morales and his
Sandra Torres of the Na- Associated Press inner circle, though he de-
tional Unity and Hope par- have hit other campaigns, corruption investigations in Among the candidates nies wrongdoing and has
ty to finish first, but with 19 with prosecutors opening tandem with a U.N. com- seeking to make it through been protected from pros-
candidates in the race it is an investigation into al- mission. Another candidate to an Aug. 11 runoff are ecution due to his immunity
unlikely she will win the ab- leged illicit campaign fi- was barred from running Alejandro Giammattei, while in office.
solute majority necessary to nancing involving her par- based on a law that pro- a four-time presidential A recent poll from CID
avoid a runoff. ty. The case has not moved hibits the election of rela- candidate and ex-prisons UpGallup Latinoamerica
Torres, 64, is a businesswom- forward because candi- tives of former leaders. director; Roberto Arzú, a found that nearly a third
an who was seen as influ- dates are protected from Aldana’s supporters see businessman and son of a of Guatemalan adults sur-
encing decision-making prosecution, and a judge her removal as a signal that former president; Edmond veyed believed that what-
during the 2008-2012 gov- denied a request to have corrupt elites feared the Mulet, a former congress- ever the outcome, it will be
ernment of her then-hus- that lifted for Torres, citing prospect of her presidency. man, ambassador to the the result of fraud, while
band, Álvaro Colom. She a law that targets violence Observers, and voters U.S. and U.N. official; and another 20% said the elec-
served as coordinator of against women. themselves, say the result of Thelma Cabrera, the only tion’s legitimacy would be
the Council on Social Co- Three other candidates the chaotic campaign has indigenous woman in the suspect because so many
hesion, an entity that was were kicked off the ballot been near universal cyni- race, and the lone top five candidates were kept from
replaced by the Ministry of amid graft investigations, cism. candidate who is not run- running. “The legitimacy
Social Development under most notably former Chief “I don’t trust any of them,” ning with a conservative of and confidence in the
Colom’s successor. Prosecutor Thelma Aldana. said Paula Cojolón, a party. process has been seriously
But she has not been im- She gained international 58-year-old domestic work- Guatemalans are predomi- harmed,” political analyst
mune to the scandals that attention for leading anti- er. nantly concerned about Phillip Chicola said.q

Mexico migration chief offers resignation to president

By MARÍA VERZA iffs late last week. Mexico’s try’s southern border and
Associated Press plan to slow migration has vowed to correct the situ-
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mex- been coordinated by For- ation.
ico’s immigration chief eign Relations Secretary “We have identified 68
presented his resignation Marcelo Ebrard. Shortly be- crossings like that, and in
to the president Friday as fore the statement, Cham- all of them there will be
the country embarks on a ber of Deputies President oversight,” Andrés Manuel
crackdown on irregular mi- Porfirio Muñoz Ledo ac- López Obrador said at a
gration through its territory cused Ebrard of hogging morning news conference,
in response to U.S. pressure. responsibilities that weren’t responding to questioning
The National Immigration his purview. about checkpoints where
Institute said in a brief state- At an April news confer- cross-border traffic was
ment that Tonatiuh Guillén ence with Ebrard and Inte- seen coming and going
thanked President Andrés rior Secretary Olga Sánchez freely.
Manuel López Obrador for Corder, Guillén appeared The president, who took of-
the opportunity to serve A group of more than a dozen Honduran migrants ride a to show some distance with fice Dec. 1, attributed the
the country, but it did not raft across the Suchiate River after between Tecun Uman, the two as they expressed problem to residual corrup-
give a reason for why he Guatemala, left, and Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, Friday, June 14, support for a tougher poli- tion at the National Migra-
presented his resignation. 2019. cy on irregular migration. tion Institute and the cus-
Guillén had largely re- Associated Press Earlier Friday, López Óbra- toms agency and noted
mained out of the public when President Donald Mexico if the country didn’t dor acknowledged that that more than 500 immi-
eye during the recent ten- Trump threatened stiff do more on immigration. controls are lax at dozens gration workers have been
sions with the United States, tariffs on all imports from Trump suspended the tar- of crossings at the coun- let go as part of a purge. q