But the new attorney general, Thelma Aldana, who was appointed by Pérez Molina, continued working closely with the CICIG and pursuing corruption investigations. When Aldana and CICIG dismantled the customs-fraud ring last April, CICIG’s mandate was about to end, but pressure from the protests left Pérez Molina with no option but to extend it.
Under these circumstances, Guatemalans are expected to vote for a new President next Sunday. The leading candidate, Manuel Baldizón, is widely regarded as Pérez Molina’s closest ally. The bigger the scandal gets, the more points Baldizón loses in the polls. But he is still ahead and, if the elections are held, he most likely will survive for a second round. (In Guatemala, a candidate needs to win more than half of the votes to get past the first round. If necessary, a second round is held between the two candidates with the most votes.) According to the latest polls, the only candidates who pose a serious challenge to Baldizón are Jimmy Morales, a comedian who is running based on his outsider status, and Sandra Torres, the ex-wife of former President Álvaro Colom. Zury Rios, daughter of General Ríos Montt, is also a candidate.
“These elections will not be held under normal circumstances,” Paz y Paz told me. “The vote in urban areas will probably be very low. People do not trust the political system anymore.” Juan Luis Font, a Guatemalan journalist who hosts a popular political show on television, says that voters’ main fear is that “nothing will change. That only some actors will be replaced for others, but that the system will remain in place.”
Font says that peasants and indigenous organizations have enthusiastically supported the protests, but he warns that people in the rural areas, where most live in conditions of poverty, ultimately vote for whoever they believe will help them survive. “The next government will have to answer to the demands of the urban middle class that is on the streets,” he said. “But that middle class may be alone.”
Article Appeared @http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/corruption-charges-turn-guatemala-upside-down