Reading up on politics

Yesterday afternoon, Johnny and I were hanging out in the Parque Central (drinking some nice strong Guatemalan Joe from Cafe Condesa Express, relaxing on a park bench, reading a local mag and watching an eight year-old shoe shine polishing up a scuffed loafer in record time...) when we noticed an increasing number of undercover security guards.

There was a fancy wedding in town, and the bride and groom were at the park taking photos in a horse-drawn carriage -- at first I thought perhaps they were the ones with back up. Then Johnny heard someone exclaim, "Mama, el presidente!"

Sure enough, here came the president of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, for a Saturday stroll through Antigua's central park. He seemed to get a warm reception -- well, at least everyone wanted to give him a hug and take a picture with him.

Otto

We weren't too familiar with today's Guatemalan politics, so we returned home to Google to learn more about Otto.

Also in politics, an historic trial is currently underway: court proceedings against Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt, who led the country in the early 1980s, on charges of genocide.

Read more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/opinion/on-the-brink-of-justice-in-guatemala.html

Also on the reading list is I, Rigoberta Menchu, the story of a Mayan woman in Guatemala who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1992/tum-bio.html.