First couple's divorce put on hold

A judge in Guatemala has stopped the divorce proceedings between President Álvaro Colom and his wife, first lady Sandra Torres, after a group of students filed a lawsuit Friday claiming that the reason behind the breakup of their marriage is an intention to commit electoral fraud.

In a surprise move, Colom and his wife quietly filed for divorce on March 7 with a Guatemala City Family Court judge, who gave the go-ahead for the formal separation.

Opposition lawmakers and other critics immediately charged that the couple planned the move to allow Torres to run for president in this year's election. Under Guatemala's Constitution, immediate family members of the president are prohibited from running for the nation's top office.

Although Torres has not been nominated by Colom's ruling UNE party, she appeared at a rally earlier this year in which supporters carried campaign posters with her picture. She has not stated whether she would run if given the nomination.

On Friday, a group of university law students filed a challenge to the divorce proceedings with a higher court, which has put them on hold until the lawsuit can be resolved.

Ramón Cadena, director of the International Commission of Jurists, told the Guatemala City daily La Hora that there is a good chance the students will prevail in their arguments. If not and the divorce is granted, Cadena said the country's Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has the option of rejecting Torres' candidacy if it determines that fraud has been committed.

"What happens is that any type of conduct committed to break the law is automatically void and has no legal standing. So from that point of view, I can say that although the judge found in favor of divorce, it has no legal standing and they still remain married. Therefore it is now up to the TSE to refuse to register Sandra Torres de Colom as a candidate," Cadena said.

Elections are slated for September 11.

In another development, former Guatemalan Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann, who is wanted in his country on charges he ordered extrajudicial killings at a prison, told the Spanish High Court in Madrid on March 30 that he would prefer to be tried in a Spanish courtroom rather than being sent home.

Vielmann, who faces extradition, argued that he is a Spanish citizen who should be afforded justice in Spain.

Nevertheless, the former minister didn't obtain his nationality until 2009, three years after the crimes he is charged with occurred.

Guatemalan authorities want to put Vielmann on trial for his alleged actions that led to the killing of 10 inmates at two prisons in separate incidents in 2005 and 2006.

"If there was a legal process in Guatemala where one is presumed innocent until proven guilty, if those parameters existed, I wouldn't have any problem submitting myself to justice in my own country. I am innocent," Vielmann said.

Among those testifying in favor of Vielmann was former Vice President Eduardo Stein.

Vielmann, who was arrested in October near Madrid's Retiro Park, remains free on bail.