GUATEMALA: DIGNITARIES ARRIVE AND SECURITY BEEFED UP FOR INAUGURATION OF NEW PRESIDENT-ELECT OSCAR BERGER

Record ID: 646664

  • Title: GUATEMALA: DIGNITARIES ARRIVE AND SECURITY BEEFED UP FOR INAUGURATION OF NEW PRESIDENT-ELECT OSCAR BERGER
  • Date: 16th January 2004
  • Summary: (U7) GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (JANUARY 13, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV GUATEMALAN AIRPORT; SLV MILITARY BAND TO HONOUR FLORIDA GOVERNOR JEB BUSH (2 SHOTS) 0.14 2. SLV /MV BUSH BEING GREETED BY HONOUR GUARD 0.24 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FLORIDA GOVERNOR JEB BUSH SAYING "On behalf of President Bush and the United States, I want to congratulate all Guatemalans and send my greetings to President-elect Oscar Berger who is preparing to assume the Presidency." 0.42 4. SLV BRAZILIAN EDUCATION MINISTER CRISTOBAM BUARQUE STEPPING DOWN FROM PLANE; MV BUARQUE BEING GREETED 0.54 5. MV SPAIN'S PRINCE FELIPE DE BORBON; MV PRINCE FELIPE MEETING WITH PRESIDENT-ELECT OSCAR BERGER 1.09 (U7) GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (JANUARY 14, 2004) (REUTERS) 6. SLV SECURITY AND POLICE PATROLLING AREA (3 SHOTS) 1.27 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED POLICE COMMANDER IN CHARGE OF SECURITY SAYING "Our mission is to protect the dignitaries who are here as well as the citizenry who are participating." 1.37 8. SLV /LAS EXTERIORS OF CONGRESS 1.49 9. HAS NEW CONGRESSMEN BEING SWORN IN (2 SHOTS) 2.04 10. MV SOLDIERS; MV POLICE; MOTORCYCLE POLICE OFFICER; SLV EXTERIOR OF NATIONAL THEATRE WHERE THE INAUGURATION WILL BE HELD (4 SHOTS) 2.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 31st January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Reuters ID: LVADXTL9ZUDRDHPUN4MUPSHMR3C5
  • Story Text: Dignitaries arrive and security is beefed up for
    the inauguration of Guatemala's new President-elect Oscar
    Berger.

    Latin American and U.S. leaders landed one by one
    in Guatemala on Tuesday (January 13) in preperation for the
    inauguration of conservative businessman Oscar Berger as
    the country's new President later on Wednesday (January 14).

    Florida Governor Jeb Bush was met with military honours
    as he stepped off the plane on Tuesday evening. He and his
    wife, Columba Bush, were heading the U.S. delegation to the
    inauguration, which includes Alberto Martinez Piedra, the
    U.S. ambassador to Guatemala from 1984 to 1987.

    "On behalf of President Bush and the United States, I
    want to congratulate all Guatemalans and send my greetings
    to President-elect Oscar Berger who is preparing to assume
    the Presidency," Bush said upon his arrival.

    Bush's arrival was followed by that of Brazilian
    Education Minister Cristobam Buarque and Spain's Prince
    Felipe de Borbon, who was heading the Spanish delegation
    and met with Berger.

    Meanwhile, security was out in force hours before the
    inauguration.

    "Our mission is to protect the dignitaries who are here
    as well as the citizenry who are participating," said the
    police commander in charge of security.

    Berger won Guatemala's second presidential election
    since the end of the country's 36-year civil war and
    pledged to support efforts to prosecute a former military
    dictator accused of human rights abuses.

    Berger a lawyer with farming and business interests,
    won the presidency with 54 percent of the vote.

    The 57-year-old former Guatemala City mayor backed by
    the country's coffee and sugar farmers and banking power
    brokers, defeated Alvaro Colom, a textile factory owner and
    leftist politician, who trailed with 46 percent of the vote.

    Berger said his government would support efforts to put
    former military dictator Efrain Rios Montt on trial on
    charges of human rights atrocities at the height of the
    civil war.

    Rios Montt is blamed for ordering massacres in hundreds
    of Indian villages as part of a counterinsurgency campaign
    during his 1982-83 rule and human rights groups are
    developing genocide cases against him.

    He ran for president for the ruling Guatemalan
    Republican Front, or FRG, but was soundly beaten into third
    place in the first round last month.

    Rios Montt loses his parliamentary immunity from
    prosecution with the end of his legislative term next
    month, when Berger takes office. The president-elect's
    comments on Monday were his clearest in support of the
    proposed trials.

    Guatemala's vicious civil war ended in 1996 when leftist
    rebels signed peace accords and laid down their arms. Most
    of the 200,000 killed in the war were Indian peasants.


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