Few countries can ever have been in such urgent need of a halfway decent government as Guatemala was when 6s-car Berger won last year's presidential election. Boasting Central America's largest economy, Guatemala lags its smaller neighbours in most other respects. Its civil war between military dictators and left-wing guerrillas was the longest and bloodiest in the isthmus, ending only in 1996. Peace brought little progress, especially for the six out of ten Guatemalans who are poor, most of them Mayan Indians. Instead, under Alfonso Portillo, Mr Berger's predecessor, power seemed to be passing to a shadowy nexus of army officers and drug traffickers. After leaving office, losing his immunity from prosecution, Mr Portillo fled. Now believed to be in Mexico, he is wanted in both the United States and Guatemala on charges of money-laundering and embezzlement.
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