Guatemalans were right to be unhappy with their 2011 presidential candidates

Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters

For some reason, I was thinking about this post (Most Guatemalans unhappy with options in this weekend's presidential election) that I wrote in September 2011 days before Guatemala's presidential elections.

I really can’t say that the 2011 electoral campaign has been a major step forward for Guatemalan democracy.

In terms of the presidential candidates, front runner Otto Perez Molina of the Patriotic Party is an alleged war criminal from the country's civil war years and a person who retains close ties to hidden powers in the postwar period. I always thought that given what we’d read about Perez, he would have been on the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala’s (CICIG) radar. Now, there’s a good chance that he’ll be president.

Anyone want to convince us that Baldizon would have been better?

Given that Sandra Torres cannot compete, Manuel Baldízon of LIDER is now running as Perez' main competitor. Baldízon is a politician who offered $61,000 to other members of congress to switch to his new political party LIDER. Offering cash to switch parties is not illegal, but it’s not something that inspires confidence. It speaks to the general weakness of the country’s parties and overall party system.

Baldízon and his family are also allegedly connected to drug trafficking and organized crime in the Peten. Those are still illegal. CICIG anyone? While Baldízon does not believe that he is the messiah, he is perfectly willing to pretend that he is in order to capture votes in this weekend’s contest.

 Hopefully, we will find out soon about CICIG and OPM but don't forget about Baldizon.