Guatemalan Government
Politics of Guatemala takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, where by the President of Guatemala is both head of state, head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Congress of the Republic. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Guatemala is a Constitutional Republic. Guatemala's 1985 Constitution provides for a separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Legislative branch The Congress of the Republic ''(Congreso de la República)'' has 158 members, elected for a four-year term, partially in departmental constituencies and partially by nationwide proportional representation. Judicial branch The Constitutional Court ''(Corte de Constitucionalidad)'' is Guatemala's constitutional court and only interprets the law in matters that affect the countr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Presidential System
A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separation of powers. This head of government is in most cases also the head of state. In a presidential system, the head of government is directly or indirectly elected by a group of citizens and is not responsible to the legislature, and the legislature cannot dismiss the president except in extraordinary cases. A presidential system contrasts with a parliamentary system, where the head of government comes to power by gaining the confidence of an elected legislature. Not all presidential systems use the title of ''president''. Likewise, the title is sometimes used by other systems. It originated from a time when such a person personally presided over the governing body, as with the President of the Continental Congress in the early United ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Universidad San Carlos De Guatemala
The Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC, ''University of San Carlos of Guatemala'') is the largest and oldest university of Guatemala; it is also the fourth founded in the Americas. Established in the Kingdom of Guatemala during the Spanish colony, it was the only university in Guatemala until 1954,In 1954 a coup led by the National Liberation Movement which was sponsored by the United Fruit Company and coordinated by CIA and State Department American operatives who had links with the US company triumphed . although it continues to hold distinction as the only public university in the entire country. The university has had five major transformations: * Royal and Pontifical University of San Carlos Borromeo (1676–1829): Established during the colony by the Spanish Crown in the 17th century, approved by the Vatican and directed by regular orders of the Catholic Church. After the Independence in 1821, it was called Pontifical University. * Academia de Ciencias (Academy of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Electoral Coalition
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. Each of the parties within the alliance has its own policies but chooses temporarily to put aside differences in favour of common goals and ideology in order to pool their voters' support and get elected. On occasion, an electoral alliance may be formed by parties with very different policy goals, which agree to pool resources in order to stop a particular candidate or party from gaining power. Unlike a coalition formed after an election, the partners in an electoral alliance usually do not run candidates against one another but encourage their supporters to vote for candidates from the other members of the alliance. In some agreements with a larger party enjoying a higher degree of success at the polls, the smaller party fields candidates ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Óscar Berger
Óscar José Rafael Berger Perdomo (; born 11 August 1946) is a Guatemalan politician who served as the President of Guatemala from 2004 to 2008. Early years and family Berger was born to an upper-class family with large sugar and coffee holdings. His paternal grandparents were Belgian immigrants. He graduated in law from the private, Jesuit Rafael Landívar University. In 1967 he married Wendy Widmann, also from a land-owning Guatemalan family. He had a son after and has a grandchild named Juan Pablo Berger. Political career In 1985, he joined Álvaro Arzú's successful campaign to become mayor of Guatemala City. From January 1991 to June 1999, he was mayor himself. After leaving office, he ran in the 1999 presidential election as the candidate of the National Advancement Party, but lost to Alfonso Portillo. A representative of the industrial and land oligarchy that financed his electoral campaign, he was elected with 54.13% of the vote in the presidential election of Dec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prensa Libre (Guatemala)
''Prensa Libre'' is a Guatemalan newspaper published in Guatemala City by ''Prensa Libre, S.A.'' and distributed nationwide. It was formerly the most widely circulated newspaper in the country and as of 2007 it has the second-widest circulation. It is considered a local newspaper of record. It was founded in 1951. The billionaire Mario López Estrada is a minority stakeholder. In March 2015, the newspapers correspondent Danilo Lópéz was killed in an attack during a public event. In the aftermath of the death of Julio René Alvarado, the ''Prensa Libre'' publicly mocked Belizean officials who called on Guatemala for an apology. In October 2018, based on the information of an article published by the ''Prensa Libre'', Donald Trump claimed that ISIS members were hiding within the Central American migrant caravans. See also * List of newspapers in Guatemala This is a list of newspapers in Guatemala. Newspapers *'' Prensa Libre'', the second-most widely circulated newspa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jueves Negro
''Jueves negro'' (English: "Black Thursday") was a violent series of political demonstrations that created havoc in Guatemala City on 24 and 25 July 2003. In May 2003, the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) political party selected former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt as its candidate for the forthcoming November general election. However, his candidacy was initially rejected by the electoral registry and by two lower courts, on the grounds of a constitutional ban preventing former coup leaders from seeking the presidency (Ríos Montt had originally come to power by means of a coup d'état on 23 March 1982). On 14 July 2003, the Constitutional Court, which had had several judges appointed from the FRG, approved his candidacy for president, arguing that the terms of the 1985 Constitution could not be applied retroactively. On 20 July, however, the Supreme Court suspended his campaign for the presidency and agreed to hear a complaint brought by two right-of-centre partie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gross Domestic Product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is often revised before being considered a reliable indicator. List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita, GDP (nominal) per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation, inflation rates of the countries; therefore, using a basis of List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita, GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) may be more useful when comparing standard of living, living standards between nations, while nominal GDP is more useful comparing national economies on the international market. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the total population of the region is the GDP per capita, p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Human Rights In Guatemala
Human rights is an issue in Guatemala. The establishment of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala has helped the Attorney General prosecute extrajudicial killings and corruption. There remains widespread impunity for abusers from the Guatemalan Civil War, which ran from 1960 to 1996, and Human Rights Watch considers threats and violence against unionists, journalists and lawyers a major concern. A trial for eight former Army members on charges related to the alleged disappearances of 130 people whose bodies were found among 550 at a base now run by the UN called CREOMPAZ has been stalled since it began in 2016 due to witness intimidation, among other factors. History After an ongoing civil war which lasted over 36 years in Guatemala, the country began to transition into a more stable and established democratic country. However, following the civil war, corruption began to appear all over the country and it eventually engulfed the whole country in common crime ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Efraín Ríos Montt
José Efraín Ríos Montt (; 16 June 1926 – 1 April 2018) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as ''de facto'' President of Guatemala in 1982–83. His brief tenure as chief executive was one of the bloodiest periods in the long-running Guatemalan Civil War. Ríos Montt's counter-insurgency strategies significantly weakened the Marxist guerrillas organized under the umbrella of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), while also leading to accusations of war crimes and genocide perpetrated by the Guatemalan Army under his leadership. Ríos Montt was a career army officer. He was director of the Guatemalan military academy and rose to the rank of brigadier general. He was briefly chief of staff of the Guatemalan army in 1973, but was soon forced out of the position over differences with the military high command. He ran for president in the 1974 general election, losing to the official candidate General Kjell Laugerud in an electoral process ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Guatemalan Republican Front
The Institutional Republican Party ( es, Partido Republicano Institucional), until 2013 known as the Guatemalan Republican Front (''Frente Republicano Guatemalteco''), was a right-wing to far-right political party in Guatemala. History It was created in 1989 by former president and dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, and formally registered in 1990. It chose Ríos Montt as its candidate, but he was not allowed to stand because of a constitutional ban on former coup leaders such as himself from seeking the presidency. By the time the decision was made to ban him, it was too late for the FRG to choose another candidate. They did win 10 seats in the National Congress in those concurrent elections. It was the main component of the "No Sell-Out Platform," an alliance of right-wing parties. In early elections only to the Congress in 1994 the FRG gained 32 seats and became the largest single party in the legislature. In the 1995 presidential election, FRG candidate Alfonso Portillo narrowly ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera
Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera (born 24 September 1951) is a Guatemalan politician who served as President of Guatemala from 2000 to 2004. He took office on 14 January 2000, representing the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG), the party then led by retired general and deposed military ruler Efraín Ríos Montt (1926 – 2018). In 2014, ten years after his departure as President of Guatemala, Portillo would plead guilty to corruption charges in a United States court. Early life and education Portillo was born in Zacapa. He obtained his academic qualifications in Mexico. He allegedly received a degree in social sciences from the Autonomous University of Guerrero (UAG) in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, and his doctorate from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. However, the veracity of such claims remains uncertain since no evidence has been provided to support them. Career In the late 1970s he became involved with left-wing indigenous groups in Guerre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Guatemala City
Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nestled in a mountain valley called Valle de la Ermita ( en, Hermitage Valley). The city is the capital of the Municipality of Guatemala and of the Guatemala Department. Guatemala City is the site of the Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu, founded around 1500 BC. Following the Spanish conquest, a new town was established, and in 1776 it was made capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala. In 1821, Guatemala City was the scene of the declaration of independence of Central America from Spain, after which it became the capital of the newly established United Provinces of Central America (later the Federal Republic of Central America). In 1847, Guatemala declared itself an independent republic, with Guatemala City as its capital. The city was originally located ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |