Ex-general pledges Guatemala crime crackdown

A retired rightwing general promising a crackdown on violent crime won Guatemala's presidential election on Sunday - the first military man to govern the country since democracy was restored in 1996 after more than four decades of political violence.

According to a recount carried out by the country's electoral board, Otto Pérez Molina obtained 2.3 million votes, taking 53.74 percent of the vote, against his rival, wealthy businessman Manuel Baldizón, who garnered 46.26 percent. There was a record 60.82 percent turnout.

The result constituted a clear move to the right for the Central American nation after the previous center-left President Álvaro Colóm failed to tackle a spiraling crime rate and stop Mexican drug cartels from using Guatemala as a key smuggling route.

"From day one, you will see a president committed to the people's security"

Pérez, 60, won the run-off race by promising an "iron fist" against crime. He has vowed to deploy troops on the streets and increase the size of the police force in a country that has been described as being on the verge of becoming a narco-state.

"From day one, Guatemalans are going to see they've got a president who is committed to defending everyone's lives and safety," Pérez said late Sunday, pledging to devote 60 percent of his time to security matters.

Guatemala's murder rate is about eight times that of the United States, and opinion polls show that many of the country's 14.7 million people want a tougher stance on crime. The election campaign focused mainly on Guatemala's battle against street gangs and Mexican drug traffickers who move South American cocaine through the country to the United States.

Military experts say cartels and gangs control around 40 percent of Guatemala, which will be a huge problem for the next president to tackle. Pérez wants to hire 10,000 new police officers and 2,500 more soldiers to fight crime, adopting a model similar to that used in Mexico's so-far failed bid to combat the cartels. Human rights groups, however, have accused Guatemalan police of executing gang members.

The army murdered suspected leftists and committed many peasant massacres during the 1960-1996 civil war, in which about a quarter of a million people were killed or disappeared. Pérez was a commander in some of the most violent areas and there have been allegations that troops under his command committed abuses. He also headed the military intelligence unit charged with engineering assassinations of political rivals.

But he was seen as a progressive officer inside the army and had a key role in supporting the 1996 peace accords that ended the war. Pérez has never been charged with human rights crimes and brushes off the accusations against him.

Guatemala has begun to prosecute military officers implicated in the worse civil war abuses. But Pérez's victory will fan fears that they may now escape justice. Analysts say a key test will be whether Pérez retains crusading Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, who has pushed ahead with human rights trials. Pérez has said that if Paz y Paz is doing her work well, there is no reason to end her four-year term prematurely.

The new president, who takes office in January, must also address severe poverty affecting more than half the population of the coffee- and sugar-exporting nation, which has one of the world's highest rates of chronic child malnutrition. However, it is unclear where funds for extra spending on security would come from. Guatemala has one of the lowest tax rates in Latin America, at around 11 percent of GDP, and a fiscal deficit above three percent. Pérez says he will boost tax collection to 14 percent of GDP in the next four years by targeting tax evasion. He has ruled out creating new taxes.

He may also struggle to get major reforms through Congress. Even though his Patriot Party has the largest bloc with 57 seats, it falls short of a majority.