The internal political situation in Guatemala in recent months resembles a political soap opera. It features corruption scandals at the highest levels of government, protests in the streets, and the former president and his former vice president being jailed awaiting trial.

To make matters worse, a famous comedian has been elected President of the Republic with broad popular support, but he is not welcomed by the traditional politicians. Furthermore, there are questions about his links with the armed forces –particularly feared in this country given the sad story of its participation in Guatemalan politics, with the help of the US CIA, in the grim period 1964-1980 and their brutally repressive role in Guatemala’s civil war of 1960-1996.

In real life, the popular actor Jimmy Morales –who along with his brother Sammy, has starred for more than 15 years in a very popular and successful weekly television humorous show entitled “Moralejas“ [Morals]– was elected President of the Nation as the candidate for the Frente de Convergencia Nacional (FCN)[National Convergence Front (NCF)].

The newly elected president has mentioned as his favorite source of inspiration the satirical film “The Great Dictator”, a 1940 production in which Charlie Chaplin makes a mockery of tyrant Adolf Hitler. In his opinion: “There is no film with content as strong as that one; and it was made out of humor.”

“Humor opens doors that allow me to convey important messages,” reiterated Jimmy Morales after his electoral victory. However, it is believed that Morales is well-liked by the armed forces, because the political party that supported him in his election, the NCF, is credited with a close relationship with the highest military echelons.

Jimmy Morales portrays himself as a man of the people. After his electoral victory he said that humor –with doors wide open– allowed him to convey important messages. The propaganda slogan of choice for Jimmy Morales’ campaign for the presidency was “No corruption or thieves”. The launching of such a slogan, because of its content, could not have been more timely or accurate.

Brandishing this campaign slogan, Jimmy Morales placed himself at the forefront of the organizational work of demonstrations that began taking to the streets in weekly mass protests against the government in April 2015.

The protests were prompted by a report by a United Nations agency accusing several Guatemalan top politicians of having links with the so-called ring of corruption that involved the country’s customs agency. The report denounced the widespread corruption that reached to the highest levels of the nation, including then-President Otto Pérez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti, both now jailed awaiting trial.

Morales said he realized that he must do something for his country in 1999, while studying in Spain. Away from home he realized –said he– how much he loved Guatemala and how painful it was to see what was happening in his country.

But he did not find the right time to get involved in national politics until 2008.

Despite being seen as a political outsider, there have been concerns in the population because the party that supports him has very close ties with the national army.

Morales takes credit for having helped the people regain some confidence in politicians because, thanks to him, “many people began to believe that politics is not synonymous with corruption”.

Many of his detractors, however, believe that his message of fighting corruption is insufficient. They say his accusations are limited to a few politicians at the highest level, when in fact the number of corrupt officials is not that low and some of Morales’ current collaborators were as dishonest as the ones he denounced, but opportunistically turned their coats.

“We have seen his popularity, his ability to communicate with the people and empathize with their problems,” said a political analyst in Guatemalan social research. “It remains to be seen if he can capitalize on his popularity with a true political agenda for the people.”

January 28, 2016.

- Manuel E. Yepe http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.