is running for president, and has a background in business. Espada is the surgeon, who practices in Houston, TX, Colom's VP running mate.
Here's wikipedia's article on Colom (whom I know NOTHING about): (--this article says Colom's family suffered a political assassination at the hands of the military in 1979.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_ColomÁlvaro Colom Caballeros (born 15 June 1951 in Guatemala City) is a Guatemalan politician, member of the centre left National Union of Hope (UNE). Colom is the son of Antonio Colom Argueta and Yolanda Caballeros Ferraté, the first being the older brother of Manuel Colom Argueta, a former mayor of Guatemala City. He is the fourth of five brothers. He is also the father of Antonio Colom Szarata, the bass player of Guatemalan rock band Viento en Contra.
After gaining a degree as an industrial engineer at the University of San Carlos (USAC) in just three years, he became a businessman involved in a variety of businesses, and a government civil servant, including being the founding General Director of the Fondo Nacional para la Paz and Vice Minister of the Economy before turning to politics. He is also nephew of one of the most remembered Guatemala City mayors,
Manuel Colom Argueta, who was killed by the military in 1979 just after the creation of his political party was approved.
Representing the UNE (Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza) in the presidential elections in 2003 he came second in the first round on November 9, and then lost to Óscar Berger in the second round on December 28.
Support for Colom by middle and upper classes supposedly dropped after he was accused of receiving money from State funds to finance a small part of his political campaign. The check for which he was accused was actually a payment for a service that Fundacion de Amigos del Pais, a NGO supportive of UNE, gave to one of the government institutions and later donated the 500,000 Quetzales to UNE. Later the charges where dropped for lack of evidence against him. Colom has denied all charges and has claimed to be a victim of political persecution and also returned the money he received from Fundacion de Amigos del Pais. As of early 2007, he is #1 in the nation wide polls by a wide margin.
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Here's wikepedia's article on Espada, the surgeon, Colom's running mate: (--he sounds like a great surgeon; dunno if that will make him a great politician.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_EspadaDr. Rafael Espada is a Cardiothoracic Surgeon from Guatemala. He is well recognized in the field of medicine and is known by many to be among the top 7 surgeons of the world.
He grew up in Guatemala. From an early age he wanted to grow up to be a doctor. Espada received his doctorate degree at the San Carlos University (Universidad San Carlos) in Guatemala and performed his surgery internship residency training in general and thoracic surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He also received higher levels or training from Harvard University, Massachusetts; LeClub Mitrale, France; and other highly recognized international institutions.
Currently he is employed at the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center in Houston, TX. He is has been a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Espada is known to fly from Houston to Guatemala on a monthly basis, seeing many of his family and some (paying) patients are there. He also travels to Guatemala because he performs gratuitous surgery to the underprivileged. He is known for performing Pulmonary Thromboembelectomies (PFE). He is also believed to have been one of the first surgeons ever to successfully perform a cardiac autotransplant (and to this day has performed more successful autotransplants). He started to raise money for a charity hospital in Guatemala, and has succeeded, currently they are building a state of the art facility specifically designed for cardiothoracic/cariac/thoracic surgery. He performs an average of 10 charity surgeries out of the US every month. His other medical surgery is General Surgery. He performs nearly 1000 cardiothoracic procedures evert year in the US and around 400 in Guatemala. Espada has received numerous awards and recognitions througout the course of his ongoing career including: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, Honorary Professor from Universidad LaSalle in Mexico, Governors award from The Chest Foundation, Paul Harris Award from the International Rotary Society, among many others.
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http://www.angus-reid.com/tracker/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=14752
(Espada will be Colom's running mate, for VP.)
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