Jimmy Morales is Guatemala’s President

Jimmy Morales

At a ceremony this afternoon which was delayed by two hours, Jimmy Morales became the new president of Guatemala. Before president Morales took the oath, the outgoing president Alejandro Maldonado delivered his parting shots saying he agreed to step into the presidency because it was his duty to so do. Maldonado took office when the former President Otto Perez Molina demitted office and was arrested following months of turmoil over allegations of corruption. Morales’ success at the polls was due largely by the desire of the masses to end political corruption that was pervasive at the highest levels of government.  But it is an uneasy time in Guatemala.  Morales is described as a president who takes office without a party, without well-qualified people he trusts and with a state apparatus that’s really in financial and institutional ruin. Going into the inauguration, Morales had not announced his Cabinet, and he suffered a blow when prosecutors formally asked for action against a lawmaker suspected of human rights violations dating to Guatemala’s civil war.  Prime Minister Dean Barrow is attending the swearing in; but not all Central American presidents are attending instead they sent delegations at the level of Vice Presidents. A News Five team is on the ground at the Miguel Angel Asturias Centre where the ceremony started at around five fifteen this afternoon.  Just before news time Morales was just beginning to deliver his inaugural statement so we will have more on the event on Friday. But here’s a snippet of what he said on Belize.
Jimmy Morales, Guatemalan President

“We want to advance on the issue of the territorial and maritime dispute with Belize, our neighbour, with whom we wish to develop a bilateral agenda of neighbourly cooperation.”