MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Centrist claims win in Guatemala

Businessman Alvaro Colom claimed victory late Sunday night

A former army general who once took on the insurgency in Guatemala's long civil war lost his battle for the country's presidency on Sunday night, with voters rejecting his plan to use an iron fist, as well as the country's military, to control a sky-high murder rate.

The man who won was Álvaro Colom, a gawky policy wonk and businessman who made fighting poverty his campaign's centerpiece. Otto Pérez Molina, the former general, suggested that his background as a soldier and intelligence chief would help him take on criminals but Mr. Colom appeared to convince voters that electing a soldier, especially one tainted by allegations of past misdeeds, to the country's highest office would return the country to a dark past when a corrupt military ruled. In his speech claiming victory late Sunday, Mr. Colom described the vote as "a 'no' to Guatemala's tragic history," Reuters reported. With about 96 percent of polling stations reporting Sunday night, Mr. Colom had 52.71 percent of the vote to 47.29 percent for Mr. Pérez Molina. Oscar Bolanos, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, said it was clear that Mr. Colom had won. It was a violent campaign, with dozens of killings suspected of being politically motivated. And voters were conflicted, as shown in polls putting Mr. Pérez Molina, 56, a neophyte politician, neck and neck with Mr. Colom, also 56, who was in his third bid for the presidency. Mr. Colom will take over from President Óscar Berger on Jan. 14. "It is incredible to me that a general was even running," said Rigoberta Menchú, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for drawing attention to Guatemala's civil war. After suffering through decades of civil war and military dictatorship, Guatemala, a nation of about 13 million, found supposed peace with the signing of a 1996 accord. Mr. Pérez Molina was one of the signatories as a representative of the army; he billed himself the "general of peace." On Sunday night he acknowledged his electoral defeat but vowed to continue to press his case politically as "a constructive opposition," The Associated Press reported. But with more than 5,000 killings so far this year â€" one of the highest murder rates in Latin America â€" the country today is anything but peaceful, with drug traffickers, gang members and other outlaws acting with impunity. Guatemala is considered a major transit route for cocaine going from Colombia to the United States, and traffickers have infiltrated the country's military, police and justice system. "Guatemala is in dire shape today, with extreme poverty, failing institutions and ruthless mafias that have been growing virtually unchecked for over a decade," said Daniel Wilkinson, deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group. That is the country the new president will inherit. Mr. Pérez Molina had vowed to take on delinquents with a "mano dura," or firm hand, and his ads showed him raising a clenched fist. Mr. Colom, who directed the National Fund for Peace, a government development agency, countered that confronting violence with violence was shortsighted. "We had a firm hand for 50 years and it caused more than 250,000 victims in a dirty war," said Mr. Colom, who lost several relatives during the war. Instead Mr. Colom spoke of creating jobs and addressing the country's dire poverty, especially among its indigenous communities. Dr. Rafael Espada, Mr. Colom's vice presidential candidate, said that a victory by Mr. Pérez Molina would have been a blow to the country's fragile democracy. "I can't live with another military regime in Guatemala," he said, referring to the possible election of Mr. Pérez Molina. "His job was to kill people. Now he says he has no blood on his hands." In the first round of voting in September, Perez and Colom finished far ahead of 12 other candidates, including Nobel winner and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchu. Pre-election polls gave Perez a slight edge in Sunday's vote.