Guatemala’s New President Pledges to Fight Corruption

Guatemala’s new president took the oath of office Wednesday and promised to use an infusion of investment to create jobs, eradicate poverty and stamp out corruption in the impoverished nation.

Oscar Berger, who was mayor of Guatemala City from 1990 to 1999, said hundreds of new public works projects would extend basic services to rural areas and create jobs nationwide.

“We are going to push the country’s productivity so as to create conditions where every Guatemalan can work,” Berger, 57, said in his inauguration speech. “We are developing a new rural development strategy while always supporting the expansion of those motors that drive the economy.”

Berger said his administration would be austere, but he also pledged to launch a major anti-corruption campaign to clean up the government and the national police force.

But Berger has dodged questions about whether his government would continue to investigate former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, accused of genocide for atrocities committed during his 17-month rule, which ended in August 1983. That means formal charges and arrest warrants against Rios Montt probably won’t materialize soon, if ever.