The country of Guatemala has come a long way regarding democratic elections. Still they have a long way to go before they meet the standards of western society.

I traveled to the capitol, Ciudad Guatemala, to cover the election and managed to get an interview with a former army general who was running for president. During a visit to Rabinal the general was apparently attempted assassinated. In Guatemala however not everything is what it seems and often politicians will exceed the traditional methods of running an election campaign in order to get the sympathy of the voting majority. In this case it seems the benevolent general hired a gunman from one of the numerous gangs in downtown Ciudad Guatemala. The thug was instructed to miss the general by a close distance but graced him nonetheless. A very dramatic scenery with lots of witnesses and innocent bystanders. The local law enforcement was apparently in on it and the Rabinal chief of police later admitted giving the orders and paying off the perpetrator although he tried to silence a local witness. Compared to historical facts about ethnic cleansing and war crimes committed, these allegations seem almost innocent. The general was, like many others, involved in a huge massacre during the early days of his military carrier. The guilty parts of these war crimes have never been prosecuted and many live side by side with their surviving victims. This causes great distrust in the authorities by many people in the country. Shrines are the only public evidence to the massacres but they still lack official acknowledgement. Before the people responsible for massacres can be brought to justice I doubt this beautiful country will reap a peaceful future.