A retired right-wing general promising a crackdown on violent crime won Guatemala's presidential election yesterday and will be the first military man to take power since democracy was restored in 1986.
Otto Perez had 54.2 per cent support with results in from 98 per cent of polling stations while his rival, wealthy businessman Manuel Baldizon, trailed with 45.8 per cent.
Guatemala's electoral tribunal declared Mr Perez the winner late yesterday, and his supporters began celebrating in the streets.
It was a clear move to the right for Central America's largest economy and came after leftist President Alvaro Colom failed to contain violent crime or protect the country from Mexican drug cartels using it as a key smuggling route.
Mr Perez (60) won the run-off election by promising a "firm hand" against crime. He has vowed by deploying troops on the streets and increasing the size of the police force.
"From the first day on, Guatemalans are going to see they've got a president committed to defending the lives and safety of all Guatemalans," Mr Perez said late yesterday, vowing to devote at least 60 per cent of his time on security.
Supporters set off fireworks and joined a street party near the convention centre where the votes were counted. They sported the Patriot Party's orange colours on shirts and caps and waved their fists in the air in imitation of Mr Perez's clenched-hand campaign emblem.
Guatemala's murder rate is about eight times that of the United States and many of the country's 14.7 million people want a tougher stance on crime.
However, human rights groups fear Mr Perez's crime-fighting message may have a dark side in a country with a history of military dictatorships and extra-judicial killings by security forces.
The army murdered suspected leftists and committed many massacres of peasants during the 1960-1996 civil war, in which about a quarter million people were killed or disappeared.
Mr Perez was a commander in some of the most violent areas and there have been allegations that troops under his command committed abuses. He also headed the military intelligence unit accused of engineering assassinations of political rivals.
But he was also seen as a progressive officer inside the army and had a key role in supporting the 1996 peace accords which ended the war.
Mr Perez has never been charged with human rights crimes and brushes off the accusations against him. "I can tell you, it's totally false," he told Reuters on Saturday.
Reuters