.... and some that fight!

In Guatemala, the Boxing match /Show of the year is happening tonight -- or at least that´s what the publicity says! For most Guatemalans it´s a disgrace. So let me fill you in on the background.

Imagine your local mayor verbally squaring up to a political opponent, or with the mayor of a neighbouring (or even faraway) town, which he happens to have beaf with!. I guess that´s becoming normal in these days when politics is loosing some of it´s previous decorum. We would generally brush off this sort of grandstanding and just wish that they would get on with the real job of helping the ordinary people in their constituencies right? These things tend to blow over.... or so you might think. 

Well now imagine that the verbal posturing turns into something more physical.... an armwrestle for the cameras.... comparing the size of their muscles.... and then in a blink of an eye, there is a full blown boxing match / showpiece planned with television coverage and a phone app to make sure that nobody misses any of the action. And of course they plan it a few months in advance to make the most of run up to publicise all the training that they´ve been doing. 

And all this time, of course these 2 mayors have not been sorting out the water shortage issues in Mixco, or the collapsed drains, or working on improving literacy rates in Ipala.

Yep.... that´s local politics, Guatemalan style!
Here´s a few pictures to give you a taster.... just an hour until I tune in to watch. (maybe not!)

Disappearing Politicians

This new year in Guatemala, means a new government sworn in, but things don´t go quite as you would expect them to, and it´s all to do with impunity. Serving politicians have impunity, and can´t be prosecuted, except in very rare cases, when the court asks for their impunity to be stripped - which happened to the last President, who is now in jail for a huge corruption ring.

So for those politicians who have concerns that their own conduct could get them in trouble with the law, and who are coming to the end of their term of office, they have to think carefully about their next steps. Staying in a position, or transfering to another position that affords them the same impunity, obviously seems like the best option for them (although of course not for the country!).

The outgoing president and his vice president, were both due to serve as members of the Parlecen. I don´t claim to understand all the details of this, but Parlecen is some kind of joint parlament for several central american countries. There is a campaign for Guatemala to leave the Parlecen, as Costa Rica and Panama already have, claiming that it actually doesn´t benefit the country in any way, but simply costs us money (ummm, have I heard that somewhere else??) and provides a refuge for ex-Presidents hiding from legal prosecution (allegedly).

Because there are clear indications that both the outgoing President and his vicepresident could be arrested if they lost their impunity, (on several different charges including campaign funding irregularities) there would be only a brief window when they could be arrested, between officially handing over the Presidency and being sworn in to the Parlecen.

Groups of protesters surrounded the Parlecen building, making access difficult, which forced Parlecen to relocate to a posh hotel. The protesters followed.
During this transition of power, the outgoing president delayed the official ceremony by at least 3 hours, (prompting several representatives from other countries to leave before it even started!), and was then bussed to the Parlecen meeting at the hotel, with heavy security. With a bit of a struggle they managed to get past the protesters and were safely sworn in for another 4 years of impunity!

Meanwhile, several other outgoing politicians have gone into hiding or possibly have already left the country as warrants have been issued for their arrest.

Just a brief taste of Guatemalan politics!