Civilian Rule
The elections were won by Vinicio Cerezo , a Christian Democrat who was not associated with the traditional ruling elite. In the run-up to the election he offered a programme of reform that he claimed would rid the country of repression. Once in office, however, Cerezo declared that the army still held 75 percent of power and throughout his six-year rule he adopted a non-confrontational approach. Above all he avoided upsetting big business interests, landowners and generals. Political killings did drop but murder was still a daily event in Guatemala in the late 1980s and the guerrilla war continued to rage in remote corners of the highlands. In many ways the Cerezo administration was a bitter disappointment to the Guatemalan people and by the time the decade drew to a close it was clear that the army was still actively controlling political opposition. The fate of the disappeared remained unsolved, human rights leaders continued to be victims of death squads, land reform had yet to be tackled and 65 percent of the population remained below the poverty line. Acknowledging that his greatest achievement had been to survive, in 1990 Cerezo organized the country's first civilian transfer of power for thirty years. The 1990 elections were won by Jorge Serrano , an engineer and evangelical with a centre-right economic position. His administration once again proved both uninterested and incapable of effecting any real reform or bringing an end to the civil war. The level of human rights abuse remained high, death squad activity continued, the economy remained weak and the army was still a powerful force, using intimidation and murder to stamp out opposition. Economic activity was still controlled by a tiny elite: less than 2 percent of landowners owned more than 65 percent of the land, leaving some 85 percent of the population living in poverty, with little access to health care or education. Guatemala's dispossessed and poor continued to clamour for change. Maya peasants became increasingly organized and influential, denouncing the continued bombardment of villages and rejecting the presence of the army and the system of civil patrols. Matters were brought into sharp focus in 1992 when Rigoberta Menchu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her campaigning work on behalf of Guatemala's indigenous population. In spite of the efforts of the Serrano administration, the country's civil war still rumbled on and three main guerrilla armies, united as the URNG , continued to confront the army. Small groups of refugees began to return from exile in Mexico and start civil communities, though an estimated 45,000 still remained abroad. The territorial dispute with Belize was officially resolved when the two countries established full diplomatic relations in 1991, though the decision to recognize Belize as an independent country provoked hostility with ultra-nationalists and the Guatemalan military. By early 1993 Serrano's reputation had plummeted following a series of corruption scandals , including his backing of a casino and race-track development that had suspected links with Colombian drug cartels. Despite his membership of no fewer than four evangelical churches, Serrano had supported a venture dependent on gambling and alcohol consumption that was probably financed by cocaine barons. In May 1993 Serrano responded to a wave of popular protests with a self-coup , declaring he would rule by decree because the country was endangered by civil disorder and corruption, and that the drug mafia planned to take over Guatemala. Few were convinced, however: the US responded by suspending its annual US$67 million of aid and Serrano was quickly removed from office. Congress finally appointed Ramiro Leon de Carpio , the country's human rights ombudsman, as the new president. One of his first moves was a reshuffle of the senior military command, although he rejected calls for revenge, declaring that stability was the main goal. There was great early optimism at Carpio's appointment, but public frustration quickly grew as the new government failed to address fundamental issues: crime and land ownership, tax and constitutional reform. Some progress was made in peace negotiations with the URNG guerrilla leadership but the question of indigenous rights remained unsolved.
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