Africa Is a Country

Guatemala’s new president: a blackface star backed by the military

Guatemala’s new president: a blackface star backed by the military

By
Pablo Medina Uribe

Jimmy Morales, a Evangelical Christian and a former TV star who has never held public office, was elected as the new president of Guatemala. In the second round election held on Sunday, Morales defeated Sandra Torres – the wife of former president Álvaro Colom – with 68% of the votes.

The president-elect, who defines himself as an “Evangelist theologian,” ran on a very conservative ballot, supporting the death penalty, while opposing same-sex marriages, abortions and the legalization of drugs. He also sought to rally around nationalistic sentiments. He was often seen wearing a Guatemala National Soccer Team jersey at political rallies, and spoke about annexing an area comprising of most of neighboring Belize (which Guatemala has claimed since 1946).

 

But last week’s vote had little to do with the candidates’ ideological positions. Morales campaigned under the slogan “Not corrupt, nor a thief,” and positioned himself as “the outsider” candidate. This was not a minor feat, as creating some distance from the established political class of the country was crucial to defeat win these elections.

Just last September, amid mass protests opposing him, then president Otto Pérez Molina was stripped of his immunity, forced to resign and sent to jail over a corruption scandal. Morales, who had been campaigning since last year, had a surge after Pérez’s resignation, as many people preferred to vote for a self-styled non-politician than for a former First Lady.

But Morales’s party, the National Convergence Front (FCN) is linked to Pérez’s Partido Patriota and, as InSight Crime reports, it “was formed in large part by former military personnel from the right-wing Guatemalan Military Veterans Association (Asociacion de Veteranos Militares de Guatemala – AVEMILGUA).” These are the same military men who,according to The Nation promote “impunity for past and contemporary military abuses.”

So Morales just might not be the independent leader Guatemalans were looking for. And, since only 35% of registered voters in the country actually cast their vote last weekend, his presidency might be just as frail as his predecessor’s.

It won’t be helpful for the president-elect either that the foreign press and public have been taking note of his troubled relationship with the different ethnicities of Guatemala.

Morales rose to fame by starring along with his brother Sammy in the TV show Moralejas, in which he played, among others, a blackface character nicknamed “Black Pitaya”:

Morales has also been criticized by indigenous groups for his portrayal of them, and has been iffy about the genocide of Ixil Maya people during the country’s long civil war.

What’s more, Morales’s right-hand man Édgar Ovalle Maldonado, a member of AVEMILGUA, was accused by NSA documents of being part of the Army’s Ixil Special Force Task in the early 80s. During that period, thousands of Ixil Mayans were killed, tortured and raped — 77 massacres were recorded. And although Ovalle has not been linked to these crimes, his presence in the government might influence how future inquiries into these events unfold.

Morales will begin his four year period January 14, when he can begin to prove if he is actually the anti-politician he claims to be.

*This article was originally published in Slant. Follow Latin America is a Country on Twitter and Facebook.

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.