Guatemala: Ex-Dictator's Presidential Bid Churns Up Old Bitterness

[Aidoneus]

GUATEMALA:
Ex-Dictator's Presidential Bid Churns Up Old Bitterness

José Eduardo Mora

The presidential candidacy of former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt is adding fuel to the fire during the country's worst political crisis since the 36-year civil war that ended in 1996.
With elections slated for Nov. 9, growing poverty, deeply rooted corruption, rising violence and increasing distrust in state institutions are all contributing to the climate of uncertainty that prevails in this Central American country.

SAN JOSE, Aug 1 (IPS) - The presidential candidacy of former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982- 1983) is adding fuel to the fire during the country's worst political crisis since the 36-year civil war that ended in 1996.

With three months to go before the Nov. 9 elections, growing poverty, deeply rooted government corruption, rising violence and increasing distrust in state institutions are all contributing to the climate of uncertainty that prevails in this Central American country, say analysts consulted by IPS.

Wednesday's ruling by the Constitutional Court, which forced the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to register Ríos Montt as the presidential candidate of the governing Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG), has only further polarised an already divided society, noted several political observers.

According to the Guatemalan constitution in force, no one who has participated in a coup d'état may run for president. But four of the seven judges sitting on the Constitutional Court gave the Ríos Montt candidacy the green light.

In 1982-1983, then-general Ríos Montt led a de facto regime and launched a counterinsurgency campaign that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Guatemalans, according to estimates by human rights groups.

Ríos Montt's legal team argued that the chapter of the constitution in question was enacted in 1985, when he had already abandoned power, and should not be applied retroactively to quash his electoral aspirations.

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