Thelma Cabrera Pérez, 49, has unexpectedly risen in presidential polls after a frenetic campaign across Guatemala’s rural heartlands where organised crime and agriculture magnates have controlled land and politics since the 36-year civil war ended in 1996. About 60% of the Guatemalan population is indigenous, but Cabrera is only the second indigenous person to run for president after the Nobel Peace prize winner Rigoberta Menchu. Cabrera pledges to tackle the inequalities of Guatemalan society with a sweeping constitutional reform to ensure fair representation for the country’s indigenous, Afro-Guatemalan and mestizo peoples. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Supporters of Thelma Cabrera, presidential candidate for the Movimiento para la Liberación de los Pueblos party, attend her rally in Guatemala City earlier this month. “This candidacy is historic.”Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thelma Cabrera campaigns in Palín, Guatemala.

Source: The Guardian June 15, 2019 10:52 UTC