Our intelligence proved faulty as the iron fist of Otto Perez Molina went down to the two-handed dove of Alberto Colom & his "UNE" party. (It seems that the main parties all use hand gestures as their symbols down here, leading us to speculate that a large bulk of the advertising probably centers around the intermissions of slide shows). Colom has been called everything from a former Communist sympathizer to a neo-liberal to a conservative in bed w/ the FRG, the peace-sign party headed by the notorious Efrain Rioss Montt. While most of the folks we´ve talked to don´t get very excited about Colom (indeed, 5% of the votes went to both or neither!), his slogan of fighting violence w/ "inteligencia" instead of the "mano dura" of his opponent sounds a little more promising to us-- the lesser of two evils, at least.
As for Monsieur Montt, he ran for presidente in 2003, after overturning laws preventing him from doing so, and lost. However, he was elected to Congress this September, which gives him immunity from prosecution for another 4 years. Although their support is waning due to the corruption that seems to come w/ the territory, he & his party are still a force to be reckoned with.
Now, if you´ll excuse us, we're off to blot out the index fingers of all the FRG "peace signs" that seem to have been painted on every rock that has broken free of the topsoil.
