Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina will not resign even as thousands protest outside the presidential palace; eight of his cabinet members have been forced to resign in 24 hours, and his former vice president Roxana Baldetti appeared in court today accused of accepting $3.7 million dollars in bribes as part of a customs corruption scandal. Add to that the fact that the Guatemalan Attorney General has called for his impeachment on corruption charges, and Perez's last 5 months in office promise to be a real challenge.
But, he's not backing away from it. In a televised message last night, the former general announced that he's not going anywhere, his conscience is clear, and will fully submit himself to the impeachment proceedings that have been initiated against him.
The Archbishop of Guatemala, Vian Morales, has also called for his resignation, and protests have been ongoing for four months in front of the presidential palace.
Prosecutors say Pérez was at the head of the corruption scam and investigators are trying to revoke the president's immunity from prosecution in the case.
Elections for a new president will be held on September 6th - but Perez Molina remains in office as President until January 14th.
And to make it through the difficult coming months, the former General will probably have to rely on Guatemala's powerful military to back him up. That means that people like Vice Admiral Thomas who you saw in the Sarstoon last week probably won't be getting too many memos telling him to be courteous to Belzieans traversing the river. This is likely not a time that Perez can tell his military to turn down their macho profile. With that we note that the Territorial Volunteers are getting ready to go to the Sarstoon again - this time they say they want to go with the BDF when they head in for a changeover at Cadenas tomorrow. We'll let you know how that goes in our next newscast.
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