New Guatemala leader Colom vows to attack crime

GUATEMALA, Guatemala's new President, Alvaro Colom, pledged on Monday to fight violence and drug trafficking as he took power in a country racked by crime.

Colom, a center-left businessman, said he would use social programs, a court overhaul and a crackdown on money laundering to combat the Central American country's ills.

"You can't run a country if there is no justice," he said at a swearing-in ceremony attended by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and other Latin American leaders.

Over 6,000 people were murdered last year in the country of 13 million people. Few criminal cases are ever solved.

Critics say the bookish new president is too weak to crush violent gangs that make Guatemala so dangerous. His National Unity for Hope Party, or UNE, fell short of a majority in Congress, complicating prospects of legal changes.

Colom, 56, beat a right-wing former general who promised to use the army to crack down on crime.

The chain-smoking Colom, who practices a Mayan religion, has pledged to improve the lot of Guatemala's poor indigenous population.

Over half the children in Guatemala are chronically malnourished despite strong economic fundamentals that benefit a small coffee and sugar growing elite.

Also attending the inauguration were Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, members of a new generation of leftist presidents in Latin America.

Guatemala City, Tuesday, Reuters