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| Otto Perez Molina with the former president Alvaro Colom in the background. |
On January 14, 2012 Otto Perez Molina became the new president of Guatemala. He lead the polls after the first round of elections and in the second round won with around 56% of the votes. Many Guatemalans hope that Molina will bring security to the country as he has promised to crack down on the drug cartels and the gangs who roams around freely and with impunity in Guatemala. In Guatemala one can literally "get away with murder" as there is a 98% impunity rate. Molina has been campaigning for the presidency for a number of years now and his motto was "the heavy hand" or "iron fist". Molina is a former general who was instrumental in signing the peace agreement in 1996 with the guerrilla army. He has been accused of being involved with genocide but nothing has been proven. Having said that many hail him as a possible "saviour" for Guatemala as he appears to be known for being transparent and does not tolerate corruption. We hope and pray that he will be able to bring about more security to Guatemala, but we know that the only real and lasting change will come when the Gospel shines in the lives of the Guatemalan people. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in the world with close to 20 murder per day. On almost a weekly basis we see the violence up close. Please pray for Guatemala and the new president and his staff.
