Guatemala Rhetorical Analysis

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Guatemala has been afflicted by corruption in the government and violence imposed by the drug cartel for some time but the best solution to improve the situation remains a point of contention, which inhibits the government from doing anything effectual. Because the country has been in the midst of so much instability, the voters have become more willing to accept presidents who are willing to ignore some of the governmental power structure in favor of providing security. Since the presidential branch is not exempt from being flawed, history has proven that they will continue to overstep their bounds until they eventually generate more instability than the people began with. The 2007 Presidential election was a democratic one although it was …show more content…
In this case, the people begin to see the government as a threat to their livelihood with self-serving interests rather than a protecting body put into place to serve the people. When these scenarios take place, the people tend to switch to the other extreme, rather than trying to find some middle ground, especially if there has been no major change in the quality of life. Therefore, in the next election, the same people who voted against the perpetrator of military abuses, Perez, turned around and elected that same man based on claims that he knew of a, using military force, to drive out the cartel and lessen the murder committed within the country. Desperation leads people to make decisions they would not otherwise make given the same circumstances. If the people had not felt abused by their previous president, they might have been able to consider a better electoral decision. Instead, they decided to go with the president that had openly objected to Colom from the beginning. The fact the Perez has a long-standing history of violence and using his military knowledge makes it highly likely that Guatemala will eventually lean more authoritarian than democratic. The most obvious clue to that conclusion is the fact that he is ready to use military force to drive out the enemy rather than consider strengthening the already existing institutions, i.e. the police force. When leaders begin to allow the military access to civilians, things are known to go south quickly. Because a large amount of the people in Latin America focus on single issues rather than the big picture, they are unable to recognize when leaders are making promises in order to further than own agenda instead of solely working for the betterment of the country. The public is not afforded the opportunity to focus on their candidates’ history and beliefs because their needs are so