VivirLatino

Guatemala Elections: Runoff, Menchu defeated

18:12 H | Topics: Guatemala - Politics

While here in the U.S. we watched Democratic presidential candidates pander to Latino voters, voters in Guatemala were casting their ballots for president. 96 percent of votes have been tallied, and as per usual in Latin American elections, there will be a run-off. Businessman Alvaro Colom will face off with conservative ex-General Otto Perez in the segunda vuelta on November 4th.

The most internationally-known candidate in the 2007 Guatemalan elections, Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu, didn't fair well at the ballot box, receiving a mere 3.4% of votes.

Menchu points to a "fear of the indigenous" as the reason for her poor showings at the polls. In an exclusive interview with AP, Menchu says:

With 42 percent of the population "we indigenous people are a majority and that's why they are afraid that if I make it, it will be dangerous. They use a fake fear like with Evo Morales, that Evo Morales is going to come and start an uprising among farm workers," said the presidential candidate on Saturday.

According to Mexico's El Universal, it is that same fear that had her being asked time and time again during her campaign about her relationship indigenous leaders, Hugo Chavez and Evo himself.

Via / Forbes and El Universal
Image via Edgarin's Flickr page

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