Alvaro Colom will take over the reigns from Oscar Berger today and lead Guatemala for the next four years. An industrial engineer and one time vice minister of economy, he will hopefully be the president who creates a new political climate where the welfare of all the people will be of concern to the President, and not just the fortunate few.

The country needs a strong, but compassionate leader to bring them out of the years of corruption, poverty and crime. As his vice-president Dr. Rafael Espada (a world renowned cardio-thoracic surgeon) says: "Guatemala is sick, very sick, in intensive care."

The Mayan population, which makes up half of the population of thirteen million, has great respect for Colom. After the thirty-six year Civil War ending in 1996, together with the UN he helped bring home over 40,000 refugees, give them land, and provide loans for productive projects.

This new team is vowing to spend their first 100 days focusing on, “public safety, rural aid, and building more schools and public health facilities.” Their predecessor’s pro-business policy did nothing for the indigenous population, and poverty continues to be endemic; over seventy-five percent of the country lives in extreme poverty, surviving on less than one dollar a day. Only one third of the children get to attend school.

The UN has stated that they are committed to helping Guatemala fight organized crime and strengthen their criminal justice system. In addition, the International Commission against Impunity has resumed their work in Guatemala. The budget available to this group through the donations of eleven countries is twenty million dollars. Used wisely it could put structures in place that might reduce the high crime rate.

Unfortunately I’ve yet to hear anything about Colom’s policy on adoption. My guess is that he is going to keep a low profile on the subject until he learns more about the new system. What he will do if in-process cases get stalled is anyone’s call. I want to believe that he is a more compassionate person who will feel true concern for the thousands of orphans and street children in his country. He has visited the poor villages and seen the plight of the children. He is aware that his country does not have a social welfare system in place.

And under other business, I wanted to inform my readers that I now have a personal website (http://lisasadoptionblog.blogspot.com/) they can visit where I will be blogging on adoption. I look forward to having you visit there as well.