Colom Merely Average for Guatemalans

Few people in Guatemala have strong feelings on the way Álvaro Colom is doing his job, according to a poll by Vox Latina published in Prensa Libre. 15 per cent of respondents rate his performance as good, 15 per cent deem it bad, and 67 per cent think it has been average. Guatemalan voters elected a new president in November 2007. Final results gave Colom of the left-leaning National Union of Hope (UNE) 52.82 per cent of the vote. His run-off contender, Otto Pérez Molina of the right-leaning Patriot Party (PP), finished second with 47.18 per cent of all cast ballots. Colom was sworn in as president in January 2008. Earlier this month, Guatemala joined Petrocaribe, an organization of countries that receive cheap oil and long-term loans from Venezuela in exchange for commodities such as sugar and rice. Colom praised the work of... [read full story]