Now that the campaign has officially begun, candidates are allowed to begin putting up advertisements, and actively campaigning. You might think this means I’d have to start running around to get pictures of the ads going up, but I’ve had months to do that. No one really pays attention to the advertisement rule, since the fine for advertising early is a single $125 fee (though lawmakers are trying, unsuccessfully, to interpret it as $125/ad). So there are dozens of ads from a number of candidates all over the towns of Petén. Billboards are the most noticeable, but anything that sits still long enough can be spray-painted, and certain parties have been prolific in this activity.
Here’s a rundown of the parties most active in Petén (based on advertisements I see in my daily life). I can’t speak much to the political nuances of the parties – at the basic level they’re all slightly similar - most are fairly to the right and they’ve all broken constitutional election laws.
Sandra Torres (Colom)
Sandra is the (now ex) wife of Alvaro Colom, Guatemala’s current president. Her campaign is very illegal, because Guatemalan law forbids family members of presidents from running. Apart from trying to avoid family dynasties, this is because Sandra has significant access to government funds, which are being used for her private campaign. The Coloms recently got a divorce to lend her campaign a little credibility, but her access to taxpayer’s money is doubtless still the same.
Otto Pérez Molina
The Partido Patriota (read: military) candidate is possibly a leader in the race, according to Gabriel and others I’ve talked to around Flores. The retired general is one of the farthest right candidates, running on a security and crime platform, and has all sorts of ties to the civil war and human rights abuses.
Eduardo Suger
CREO is a more religiously-inclined party (creo means I believe, and the hand reaching down logo is not subtle). I’ve seen square CREO symbols spray painted on a lot more small houses and in rural areas, than others. I assume this either means that there are more CREO supporters among the poor, or that CREO supporters are more enthusiastic, and demonstrate their commitment more. The only other symbols I’ve see commonly in the communities are for UNE (National Union for Hope, the current ruling party) and faded URNG (Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity) marks.
Marta and Oscar hosted a CREO meeting in their hotel, and I got to hear a couple of local party members speak, and was given a pretty sweet headband.
Patricia de Arzú
The wife of Alvaro Arzú, the current mayor of Guatemala City and a former president, is the Partido Unionista candidate. Her campaign stands on shaky legal ground, similar to that of Sandra Torres, due to the constitutional ban on family members running. Arzú himself briefly considered running, but instead decided to promote his wife.
Dr. Manuel Baldizon
Baldizon is big in Petén. His Lider (leader) party is a relatively new addition to Guatemalan politics, but his family has been around Petén for a while, and owns lots of things. The strip of land along the lake between the airport and (I believe) points west of Flores in San Benito is theirs. They own the Pollo Campero, and at very least rent the land on which the Burger King and La Torre megamall are built, along with gas stations, several ranches, and numerous businesses around Santa Elena. Baldizon has his own sports arena, and (new this month!) his own boulevard. Anyone traveling from Santa Elena to the airport, shopping center or Tikal will drive down his street.
Lider isn’t very big outside of Petén, where the family’s wealth and power is consolidated, but within Petén they are everywhere. Baldizon has the greatest number of billboards, and numerous smaller (but professional) ads, often found along his boulevard and other main streets. Whole building have been painted with the Lider “thumbs up”, and I’ve seen houses in communities painted red, in preparation for the beginning of the campaign. The public at least seems to respect the early advertising ban, and hadn’t put up the white words when I passed through, but the intent was obvious.
Apart from advertisements, I had a personal brush with local politics on my way back from Belize. we encountered a roadblock strike in a little town between Flores and Melchior de Mencios on the border. The town was situated on a long stretch of unpaved road, and they were (in their words) “sick of waiting for Flores to pave our road. So we stop traffic to get their attention”. I’d say around 100 cars, trucks and busses were backed up on both sides of the roadblock. Everyone seemed to take it in stride – we all crowded around either the blockade and talked to the strikers, or around the local tienda, and drank soda. The strikers even had apologetic signs explaining to tourists why their travels were being interupted.
About half an hour after I got there, the police showed up in impressive force, along with the local media and the mayor of Flores (a Baldizon affiliate). Even with the police presence everything was pretty chill. One tourist couple from my bus kept wandering around and making nervous comments to each other, until the driver and I started joking around that “hey, they weren’t in Cairo, what were they so worried about?”. The mayor and a few officials were quickly surrounded by the folks at the roadblock, and their grievances were voiced. Some vague promises were made, which was apparently something they had heard before. Eventually a paper was written up, and after some delay, the mayor signed it. I don’t know what was written on it, but I assume it was a promise to pave the road, because the burning tires were doused right after, and the logs dragged off the street. The police proved useful in directing traffic as both backed up lines tried to move at once, and my travels continued, only delayed by about 2 hours.
I haven’t driven back that way since, so I have no idea if paving has begun, but it was very interesting to see a local community’s interaction with the municipality. I’m sure that when the paving is started, it will have some local politician’s name attached to it, and will take forever, like the bridge between San Benito and San Andrés. It took four years to construct, and the construction was “inaugurated” three separate times by different politicians looking to connect themselves with the project.
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