Uneasy Guatemalans ready to cast ballots

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sat, Nov. 08, 2003

GUATEMALA
Uneasy Guatemalans ready to cast ballots
Voters go to the polls Sunday amid fears that a former dictator's supporters will not accept his defeat.
BY MICHAEL A.W. OTTEY
[e-mail]

GUATEMALA CITY - It's down to the home stretch in the race for president of Guatemala, a nation still haunted by a 36-year civil war and military coups.

Guatemalans go to the polls Sunday after a campaign that saw 24 people shot dead and amid fears that a former dictator's supporters will not accept his defeat and of threats of disruptions from former pro-government militias.

Despite the concerns, thousands of Guatemalans took to the streets this week to support their candidates, beating on pots and pans and dancing atop caravans of cars and trucks rigged with balloons and posters of their favorites.

Of the 11 candidates, three are considered serious contenders to replace President Alfonso Portillo, who cannot seek reelection. They are former Guatemala City Mayor Oscar Berger, Alvaro Colom and former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt. (snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7213658.htm

[dArKeR]

1. Guatemala fears more poll violence

Peace has still not come to the Central American nation, currently in the throes of a presidential campaign in which more than 20 people have died

AP , GUATEMALA CITY
Sunday, Nov 09, 2003,Page 6

Indigenous Mayans wait on line to find out where they will be voting in today's elections in Solola, Guatemala, some 150km west of Guatemala City on Friday.
PHOTO: AP

Guatemala, still struggling to overcome 36 years of civil war, has endured months of election-related violence and faces the possibility of more as voters decide this weekend whether to give a former dictator accused of human rights abuses another chance to run the country.

General Efrain Rios Montt is a distant third in the polls, but many fear he and his supporters will refuse to accept defeat in today's presidential vote. Thousands of people attacked police and businesses in July, when it appeared court officials were prepared to block Rios Montt's candidacy because he seized power in a 1982 coup.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/11/09/2003075186

[Minstrel Boy]

2. "Cry for Guatamala...

...with a corpse at every gate." (Bruce Cockburn, If I Had a Rocket Launcher)

I shake my head with disgust everytime I see the name of that psychopathic christo-fascist Rios Montt. May Pat Robertson's appalling friend be buried at the polls today, and stay buried.