Politics of Guatemala

Politics of Guatemala takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Guatemala is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Congress of the Republic. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Guatemala's 1985 Constitution [http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Constituci%C3%B3n_de_Guatemala] provides for a separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The 1993 constitutional reforms included an increase in the number of Supreme Court justices from 9 to 13. The terms of office for president, vice president, and congressional deputies were reduced from five years to four years; for Supreme Court justices from six years to five years, and increased the terms of mayors and city councils from 30 months to four years.

Executive branch

The president and vice president are directly elected through universal suffrage and limited to one term. A vice president can run for president after four years out of office.
President
Álvaro Colom
UNE
14 January 2008
-
Vice President
José Rafael Espada
UNE
14 January 2008

Legislative branch

The Congress of the Republic "(Congreso de la República)" has 158 members, elected for a four-year term, partially in departmental constituencies and partially by nationwide proportional representation.

Political parties and elections

Political parties in Guatemala are generally numerous and unstable. No party has won the presidency more than once and in every election period the majority of the parties are small and newly-formed. Even the longer-lived parties, such as the Christian Democrats (DC) or the URNG, tend to last less than a decade as significant forces in Guatemalan politics.

Judicial branch

The Constitutional Court "(Corte de Constitucionalidad)" is Guatemala's highest court. It is composed of five judges, elected for concurrent five-year terms by Congress, each serving one year as president of the Court: one is elected by Congress, one elected by the Supreme Court of Justice, one is appointed by the President, one is elected by Superior Council of the Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala, and one by the bar association "(Colegio de Abogados);"

The Supreme Court of Justice "(Corte Suprema de Justicia)" comprises thirteen members, who serve concurrent five-year terms and elect a president of the Court each year from among their number. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice also supervises trial judges around the country, who are named to five-year terms)

Political conditions

The 1999 presidential and legislative elections were considered by international observers to have been free and fair. Participation by women and indigenous voters was higher than in the recent past, although concerns remained regarding the accessibility of polling places in rural areas.

Alfonso Portillo's landslide victory combined with a Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) majority in congress suggested possibilities for rapid legislative action. However, under the Guatemalan Constitution of 1985, passage of many kinds of legislation requires a two-thirds vote. Passage of such legislation is not possible, therefore, with FRG votes alone.

The political balance was disrupted in 2000 when allegations surfaced that the FRG had illegally altered legislation. Following an investigation, the Supreme Court stripped those involved, including President of Congress and FRG chief Ríos Montt, of their legislative immunity to face charges in the case. At roughly the same time, the PAN opposition suffered an internal split and broke into factions; the same occurred in the ANN. As a result, reforms essential to peace implementation await legislative action.

New cases of human rights abuse continued to decline, although violent harassment of human rights workers presented a serious challenge to government authority. Common crime, aggravated by a legacy of violence and vigilante justice, presents another serious challenge. Impunity remains a major problem, primarily because democratic institutions, including those responsible for the administration of justice, have developed only a limited capacity to cope with this legacy. The government has stated it will require until 2002 to meet the target of increasing its tax burden (at about 10% of GDP, currently the lowest in the region) to 12% of GDP.

During the Presidential race the FRG organized what will later be known as Black Tuesday. The FRG organized its partisans from the country and brought them to the city. The FRG gave them transport, food, a shelter for the night, and meter long sticks. With these sticks the participants ran through the streets wreaking havoc on the public infrastructure. During this day a journalist of Prensa Libre (a leading newspaper) was killed. The media (which have a tradition of being independent and free) took it very personally and for the next month every headline was about these events, and the participation of the ruling party in this day of terror. The FRG was protesting the ruling of the TSE (supreme electoral tribunal) to ban the FRG candidate Efrain Rios Mont from the race. The TSE argued that as a formal putschist, he was banned by the constitution from ever becoming president. The FRG argued that since the events in which the former general participated predate the constitution, he was eligible for presidential office. Common sense argued that if such a clause was not retroactive by nature it would have no point.

Since 2004 Oscar Berger of the GANA (an alliance of political parties rather than a single one) won the elections, it is important to note that this was the first government in the history of democratic Guatemala that did not have an overwhelming majority in congress. After he took office in January 2004 it was made public that the FRG had wildly ransacked the government going to the extremes of stealing computer equipment and objects of historic importance. Alfonso Portillo fled to Mexico with an impressive amount of money stolen from military funds, the national hospital, and the revenue service. Guatemala made a formal request for the deportation of Portillo to face charges of embezzlement, however Mexico has never revoked diplomatic asylum once it is granted to a person.

It is interesting to note that though the constitution says nothing about it, the vice president runs the government like a prime minister while the president deals with foreign affairs, this can be seen regularly as the VP stands in for the president in many events that are traditionally presided by the President of the Republic.

Criminality has reached staggering proportions: about 200 murders per month and it is starting to affect the economy as many companies prefer to leave the country than face the growing corruption and insecurity. The greatest problem seems to be the gang warfare between the M18 (mara dieciocho) and the MS (mara salvatrucha), these are highly organized terrorist organizations who wield a power similar to that of the US mafia of the 1930s and are for the moment above and beyond the grasp of the law. They hold territory under their control and extort “taxes” form it. Something interesting is that these gangs started with criminals deported from the United States, where this gangs originated. There is a zone of Guatemala City, “El Gallito” which is recognized as being outside of Government control, it belongs to the drug lords that inhabit it. Barrio "El Gallito" is located in Zone 3, 2 miles away from the National Palace where the Government's offices are located.

The country is plagued by lynchings which severely undermine the rule of law. When a population gets tired of being terrorized by criminal organizations the law can't seem to stop, from time to time they will band together as a mob and lynch those they target as “criminals”. Each is a desperate cry from a population that just can't live in terror anymore, and each is a blemish on the country's humans rights record as a violation of due process of law.

The Berger administration has been hailed in some circles for its work in devolution. Guatemala has always been a strongly centralized state and the administration sought to take halt the growing pre-eminence of the Capital. For example the administration has engaged in mobile cabinets where the President and all his ministers will go into the country and change the seat of power every so often, to be “closer to the people”.

The administration is facing growing financial difficulties. As 60% of the population is considered “poor” and is therefore ineligible for taxation. The SAT (superintendence of tributary administration), the revenue service is therefore obligated to tax the middle class which is starting to suffer under the burden. The SAT has become stringent in its application of the law seeking the full penalties of incarceration for tax evasion.

In September 2006 the PNC (civil national police), in a joint action with the national military took by storm the Pavon detention center, a prison with 1,500 inmates which until that date hadn't been requisitioned for 10 years and which was a hub of criminal activity. Some inmates, the guard of the chief of the mafiosi what ran the prison and the leader himself resisted the onslaught of forces of law with AK47 and handguns, they were massacred. Around 3,000 infantry and 4 tanks participated in the action. This was a milestone of the history of Guatemala and made national headlines.

2006 saw the dismemberment of the GANA in the face of the 2007 elections. It fractured into many parties seriously hurting the ability of the government to get its legislations through congress.

In the November 2007 second round presidential elections, Alvaro Colom of the UNE was elected president, defeating ex general Otto Perez Molina of the PP (and former CIA paid agent).

Administrative divisions

Guatemala is divided into 22 departments, administered by governors appointed by the president. Guatemala City and 332 other municipalities are governed by popularly elected mayors or councils.

The departments are Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Chimaltenango, Chiquimula, Escuintla, Guatemala, Huehuetenango, Izabal, Jalapa, Jutiapa, Petén, El Progreso, Quetzaltenango, Quiché, Retalhuleu, Sacatepéquez, San Marcos, Santa Rosa, Sololá, Suchitepequez, Totonicapán, and Zacapa.

International organization participation

BCIE, CACM, FAO, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAES, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINUSTAH, NAM, OAS, ONUB, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOCI, UPU, WB, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO

ee also

*Central American Parliament