Guatemala swears in new president as ex-president jailed on corruption charges
Little more than 12 hours after Otto Perez Molina became the first Guatemalan president ever to resign early Thursday, his vice president, Alejandro Maldonado, was sworn in to replace him. Perez Molina, 64, was ordered locked up until a court hearing on Friday to face corruption charges, and was seen being escorted into a military prison in central Guatemala City.
Maldonado was Perez Molina's second vice president, after the first was forced to resign and then jailed in the bribe-taking scandal that also brought down the president and much of his cabinet. In his inaugural speech, Maldonado ordered all remaining top government officials to resign and vowed to replaced them with a broadly representative administration that will "leave a legacy of honesty." Addressing the protesters that have filled the street in anger over the five-month-old corruption scandal, the new president said "you can't consider your work done," adding: "In what is left of this year, there must be a positive response."
Guatemala holds presidential elections on Sunday, and Maldonado will serve until the new president is sworn in in January. None of the three main candidates are expected to earn 50 percent of the vote, meaning there will likely be a runoff election in October. Regardless, the peaceful resignation of Perez Molina — who says he is innocent — is being hailed as an unprecedented step toward political accountability in a country with a long history of often brutal repression.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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