If the anti-corruption candidate wins Guatemala's presidential runoff, attempts by the country's political and economic elites to keep him from entering office could lead to social unrest and U.S. sanctions. After unexpectedly coming in second in the first round of the country's presidential election in June, leftist lawmaker Bernardo Arevalo from the progressive Seed Movement party will compete against former first lady Sandra Torres from the conservative National Unity of Hope Party (known by its Spanish acronym UNE) in a runoff race scheduled for Aug. 20. A relative political newcomer, Arevalo has campaigned heavily on rooting out corruption in Guatemala and has also promised to bring back the reformist judges, prosecutors, and journalists who have fled the country in recent years for fear of political persecution under outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei. Torres, by contrast, is a career politician who has pledged to maintain many of outgoing Giammattei's pro-business policies, as...
