Guatemala's New Leftist President

The Central American nation of Guatemala has sworn in its new president, leftist Alvaro Colom. Colom, who campaigned for the National Union for Hope party, promised the country's voters that he would tackle the nation's severe problem with crime and that he would pursue efforts to improve Guatemalans' standard of living. Colom defeated Otto Perez Molina of the Patriot Party in a runoff election held in November, 2007.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency's World Fact Book, Guatemala is a constitutional democratic republic in which the president is popularly elected to a four-year term. Under Guatemalan law, presidents cannot serve consecutive terms. Colom, who was sworn into office January 14, is Guatemala's first leftist president in a half century.

Colom is likely to find it difficult to make good on his campaign promises. The country is still recovering from a civil war that lasted nearly four decades, ending in 1996, and suffers from corrupt law enforcement and judicial systems that are beholden to Guatemala's various drug trafficking groups. The U.S. Department of State says the country is plagued by violent crime that results from sever poverty, a readily available supply of weapons, and a tradition of societal violence.

In pursuing his social agenda, Colom will be hindered by the lack of a legislative majority in the Congress of the Republic, Guatemala's legislative body. Legislative elections held in September 2007 were extremely violent, with dozens of candidates and political activists murdered during the contest. Colom will be forced to build coalitions within the legislature if he is to succeed in fulfilling his campaign promises. The most pressing issue for Colom will probably be getting the violent crime under control to make the population feel more secure and to attract foreign business investors that could help stimulate the Guatemalan economy.

Guatemala shares a border with Mexico, which facilitates the shipment of illicit drugs from Central America to North America through the United States' southern neighbor. Mexico has recently seen a significant increase in violence associated with various drug cartels, and incidents of violence along the U.S.-Mexican border have become more common in recent years. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has aggressively expanded security operations throughout Mexico in an effort to clean up corruption in the military and police forces and bring the drug-related violence under control. However, as long as there are drug cartels in Guatemala who can profit from shipments to Mexico, the violence in both countries is likely to continue.

Sources: CIA World Fact Book, U.S. State Department,