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.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up