GUATEMALA: Election Officials Negate Bid Of President Colom's Ex Wife To Succeed Him.

BBC


The Supreme Electoral Court flatly rejected ex-first lady Sandra Torres' presidential candidacy...on the grounds of "supposed legal fraud".


Sandra Torres has gone to great lengths to succeed her husband President Alvaro Colom...by recently divorcing him after 8 years of marriage...because of a constitutional ban on close relatives of the president running for the job.


Her party's leaders said they would appeal.

MEXICO/ GUATEMALA : The Border Is A Sieve; Narcos "Are Invading Us."

M.HERALD/ T. Johnson/
2 screen read combined

   The sieve-like lack of security on Mexico's southern border with Guatemala is worrying all of Central America and Washington.
   It has been reported that only 125 Mexican immigration officials monitor the 577-mile border with Guatemala.
    Which makes it easy for the narcos to smuggle drugs and guns.
   Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom said "They (narcos) are invading us. And either the countries of Central America join together to fight them or they will defeat us and finish off our democracies."
   "There are areas where it is easy to pass across," said Col. Rony Urizar, a Guatemalan army spokesman. "There are crossings that are not protected."

GUATEMALA: Prez. Colom's Wife Seeks Divorce...So She Can Succeed Him.

BBC

  Apparently hungry to maintain family control, first lady Sandra Torres de Colom is ending her eight-year marriage...so she can try to succeed her husband President Alvaro Colom.
   The constitution prohibits members of a president's extended family from running for the presidency.
    The divorce could be final in about 30 days.

GUATEMALA: "State Of Seige" Lifted After 2 Months; Troops To Remain.

AP/M.HERALD/ L. ANGEL SAS /

   President Alvaro Colom (pictured) announced that the emergency measures enacted two months ago to reduce violence in Alta Verapaz region have been lifted.
    The state of seige allowed the army to detain suspects without warrants, conduct searches without warrants, prohibit gun possession and public gatherings, and control the local news media.
    At least 20 suspected Zetas narco terrorists were arrested during the emergency measures and crime reportedly dropped by 50%.

GUATEMALA:1ST UPDATE: Rain Halts Search; At Least 45 Dead From Rains And Mudslides With 15 Missing.

BBC/ 07 Sept/  A search for bodies buried under a mudslide on a major highway has stopped. This after  President Alvaro Colom declared a national emergency because of at least 45 deaths from torrential rains and mudslides. Mudslides on the main highway to Mexico, the Inter-American highway near the village of Nahuala, killed 25 people in 2 buses...with 15 still missing, where the searching has been suspended.

GUATEMALA: Vital Peten Eco Region Threatened By Squatters, Cattle And Drug Runners.

NYTIMES/      President Álvaro Colom wants to turn the huge Maya Biosphere Reserve, in the Peten region into a major eco-tourism destination but needs to bring the law here first. The reserve is the size of New Jersey, about a fifth of Guatemala, and includes four national parks, the reserve houses diverse ecosystems with niches for jaguars, spider monkeys and scarlet macaws. “Organized crime and drug traffickers have usurped large swaths of protected land amid a vacuum left by the state, and are creating de facto ranching areas,” said region governor Rudel Álvarez. “We must get rid of them to really have conservation.” (Foto of Tikal)

GUATEMALA: UN Says Dead YouTube Lawyer May Have Hired Own Assassins

GUARDIAN.UK/
In a bizarre turn of events, lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg, who was gunned down by hitmen shortly after recording a video laying his future murder on President Alvaro Colom, may have arranged his own assassination to topple the government. A UN investigation has concluded the lawyer, depressed over personal problems and angry with the government, sacrificed his own life in an elaborate sting.

Guatamala In A "State Of Calamity" Over Food Shortage.

BLOOMBERG.
Guatemala President Alvaro Colom declared a “state of calamity” because of food shortages. “I am making a fervent call to all of the country’s sectors to contribute to confronting this grave problem,” Colom said in a televised address. Inadequate rainfall and a slumping economy are blamed for the shortage.