Economy & Business - September 2007 (ISSN 1741-4431)

The election result in Guatemala, perhaps the most fragile democracy in the region, was unusual because the populist left-wing barely featured. Yet no political commentator has rushed to proclaim that the Left's failure means that support for President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is ebbing. Embarrassingly for the anti-Chavistas, the two run-off candidates in Guatemala are a former general, accused of human rights abuses (Otto Pérez Molina), and a political hack, Alvaro Colom, who faces a slew of corruption allegations.