In 1999, the population of Guatemala was estimated at approximately 12.3 million people. The economy of the country is based largely on agriculture and services. Its main industries are tourism, textiles, construction and manufacturing. Guatemala has a long history of strong foreign relations with other countries in Central America and beyond. In terms of politics, Guatemala has a presidential system with Alfonso Portillo as President since 2000. He was elected in 1999 for his first term in office and his Guatemalan Republican Front party continued to hold a majority in Congress. See ethnicityology for Guatemala in the year of 2018.
Yearbook 1999
Guatemala. In February came the so-called Truth Commission’s report on the 36-year-long civil war that ended in 1996. It blamed the government for 90% of the 200,000 people killed during the conflict, especially in the years 1982-83 when Efraín Ríos Montt was president. But the political violence is not gone from Guatemala State Prosecutor Celvin Gallindo, who investigated the murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi in 1998 and who suggested it was politically motivated, fled to the United States in October after the death threat. The chief suspect, Air General Marco Túlio Espinosa, had previously been named Minister of Defense and has also been accused of destroying, on the former Minister of Defense’s order, documents that designate the military as responsible for torture and disappearance. The 25 militants convicted of murdering 11 Indians in 1995 were sentenced to the minimum sentence of five years in prison, which was severely criticized by peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú. In May, a referendum, with extremely low participation, also rejected a draft constitutional supplement, which constituted the final point of the peace agreement with the guerrillas, which led to pessimism regarding the agreement’s survival.
Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Guatemala. In the first round of the presidential elections on November 7, Alfonso Portillo from FRG (Frente Republicano Guatemalteco) received 48% and Oscar Berger from PAN (Partido de Avanzada Nacional) 30%. In the second presidential round, which took place on December 26, Portillo again won, with 68% of the vote, while opponent Oscar Berger got 32%.
- Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of GTM which stands for Guatemala and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.
Surrounded by officers and senior police, President Jimmy Morales declared in September that he was dissolving the Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The Commission had been set up with the support of the UN in 2007 and was to fight corruption and impunity in the country. Acc. the president had instead promoted corruption, promoted legal action on a “theological basis” and sowed “legal terror” in the country. Morales had admitted he was in the firing line after CICIG in 2017 found that Morales had failed to report $ 1 million. US $ he and his party had received during the 2015 election campaign, with support from his right-wing friends in Washington – including The Trump administration – Morales felt confident enough to get rid of the CICIG, and thus the investigation into himself corrupt. (Guatemala on knife-edge after president moves to end anti-corruption body, Guardian 14/9 2018)
Otto Pérez Molina, a former general of the Guatemalan army and candidate of the conservative Partido patriot, won the elections in September. The Molina government promoted a vast and ambitious government plan. Among the main measures, the 2012-16 Strategic Security Plan (based on the creation of two special police forces with the task of reducing kidnappings and femicides), the proposal to decriminalize drug use at Central American level to curb drug trafficking, a reform of social programs aimed at making the fight against poverty more effective and improving access to primary services and the reform of the teaching career.
In May 2013, former president, military coup leader, José Efraín Ríos Montt, at the age of 86 was sentenced to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Maya population between 1982 and 1983. It was a historic event, and not just for the G .: Montt was the first head of state to be convicted of human rights violations in Latin American history. In April 2015, a criminal network was discovered receiving bribes from importers to evade payment of customs duties. The exchange also involved President Pérez Molina, whose resignation was loudly demanded in the following months in street demonstrations. On September 2, Parliament unanimously voted in favor of waiving the immunity of the head of state.
