Latinnews Daily - 12 October 2007

Development: An opinion poll, published on 11 October, and the resignation of Alvaro Colom's chief strategist, point to a win for the right wing candidate, Otto Pérez Molina, in the decisive second round of the presidential elections on 4 November.

Significance: The resignation of José Carlos Marroquí­n, Colom's chief strategist, is the more important event. The manner of his resignation was odd: in an impromptu press conference Marroquí­n declared that he was "fighting against those who had brought Guatemala to its knees." The spin on this was that he was resigning because of death threats against his family. His words, however, could prove the deathknell for Colom's faltering campaign: Colom's campaign has been beset by allegations of corruption and links to organised crime.