Businessman, ordained Mayan minister and former vice economy secretary, Alvaro Colom, of the center-left National Unity of Hope Party, will hold the title and bear the responsibilities of the president of Guatemala for the next four years. He received over 53% of the vote in a run-off election with Gen. Otto Perez Molina in yesterday’s election.

Nicknamed the “anti-poverty” candidate, Colom has made promises to overhaul the judicial system, help create jobs and increase social spending in a country where $2 per day is the income of over half of the population of 13 million people. Unlike his opponent, he has not threatened to bring in the military to rid the country of the rampant violence and murder that has swept over it the last few years. He hopes that by improving the conditions of the citizens, the violence will decrease.

Both Alvaro and Molina are fifty-six years old, young enough to have the energy to do what must be done, but old enough to know what should not be done. Eliminating corruption in a political system that is innately corrupt will not be an easy task. Trying to spread the wealth in a country where a small percentage of the people control most of the land, the wealth and the politicians, is an ambitious and daunting task.

However, when the people of Guatemala chose the more “peaceful” Colom over the retired general Molina who has been accused of involvement in the massacres during the Civil War, it may because they were wary of Molina's promise to institute the death penalty and use the military to rid the country of violence. The Civil War, which raged from 1960-96 is still a very fresh wound the country bears, particularly the indigenous population.

Voter turnout was 47% of registered voters, and in many areas the voting booths were guarded by policeman and the military. The long bloody election campaign period is thankfully over, with a death toll of over fifty, and many wounded.

Colom's stand on the adoption issue hasn’t been brought up yet, but there is little doubt that he will have to address it sooner rather than later. But adoption in many cases in Guatemala is the result of many of the problems that Colom would like to tackle: impunity, poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.

I would like to wish Alvaro Colom success at implementing those things that he has promised the people of Guatemala, and at long last help bring peace and prosperity to all the citizens.

More Reading on the Elections:

Guatemala chooses businessman over formal general.

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