As we wrote earlier we do not support legalizing drugs. It just doesn’t seem to be the solution. If you can’t control it, just legalize it? Wouldn’t want to be living in Mexico when they decide to legalize killing people, because they can´t stop it… However, I do support discussing the problem. It has been brought up numerous times. Former Mexican president Vicente Fox did it, after retiring. Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos said he would consider supporting it, if everyone else would. And now there is Otto Perez Molina, Guatemala’s recently installed president.

As Otto Pérez Molina enters office as Guatemala’s first president with a military background since the end of the civil war in 1986, his administration faces a great many challenges. The biggest challenge, as will any Guatemalan tell you, is security. Even though Guatemala’s murder rate has been going down recently, violence is still prevalent. Many of the current security problems are attributed to drug trafficking groups, most notoriously the Mexican-based Los Zetas group, who reportedly control large swaths of land in the northern part of Guatemala.

There are plenty of drug war analysts to go around, and they all publish their respectable pieces of analysis, commentary and suggestive reading for policy makers in ever larger volumes. The more money is being poured into combating the drug trade, the more money is available to pay analysts. That's not surprising.

Out of all the candidates participating in last weekend’s presidential elections in Guatemala, there were four that caught the international public’s eye. Otto Pérez Molina, for his participation in 2007’s elections, his past as a general in the armed forces and obviously his successful campaign resulting in a solid win in Sunday’s first round, is the obvious talked-about candidate.

Guatemala prepares itself for Sunday´s general elections and there are more battles than just the one between the candidates. El Periodico and Prensa Libre, the nation´s most important newspapers, are fighting their own war: a battle of the polls.

Guatemala City mayor and former president Álvaro Arzú uses the slogan ´Obras no palabras´ (Works, not words) to distinguish himself from other politicians in Guatemala. Indeed, mr. Arzú has been quite busy working in the infrastructure of the city. He created a new metrobus-system, very similar to the one Mexico City´s chief of government Marcelo Ebrard has created in recent years. Mr. Arzú was credited for his infrastructural achievements by the City Mayor Foundation, an NGO that elects the ´World Mayor´ every two years. In 2005 mr. Arzú was elected third in the competition.

Sandra Torres, ex-wife of Guatemalan president Álvaro Colom, has been barred by the Guatemalan Constituional Court from running for president next month. Most analysts agree that the decision is a victory for the country’s institutions.

As Guatemala gears up for general elections held next September 11th, a lot can be said, but definitely not that it’s a boring process. Guatemalans will elect mayors, members of national parliament...