The Guatemalan Constitutional Court has upheld the electoral tribunal's decision against the participation in next month's presidential elections of a major opposition candidate. The request to invalidate the candidacy of Carlos Pineda, who according to recent polls is one of the favorites in the race, was presented by a rival party in which the politician had previously been active.

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Carlos Pineda

"Corruption has won, Guatemala has lost," the 51-year-old wrote on Twitter after the ruling. In total, 22 candidates will compete in the election that will kick off with a first round on June 25, with a possible runoff on August 20. The electoral tribunal also disqualified Thelma Cabrera, a representative of the indigenous Maya groups that make up 40% of the population, and Roberto Arzu, son of a former president.

According to analysts, the situation in the country is worrying: several anti-corruption prosecutors have been arrested, while others have fled into exile, and journalists such as Jose Ruben Zamora, the founder of the newspaper El Periodico who has published numerous investigations into corruption cases and finds himself accused of money laundering and blackmail, have also been targeted.

The great favorite to succeed the current president Alejandro Giammattei becomes at this point Zury Mayté Ríos Sosa. A long-time politician, but above all the daughter of Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, sentenced in 2013 to 80 years in prison for the genocide of the Mayan community between 1982 and 1983. Rios Montt then had the support of the great families of the country, of the army and for a time of the United States of Ronald Reagan. The daughter seems to have inherited her father's old allies.

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Zury Mayté Ríos Sosa