FROM hoardings plastered all over Guatemala, the stern face of Otto Perez Molina stares out beside the clenched-fist logo of his Patriot Party. General Perez, as he was known until hanging up his rifle in 2000, was once the Guatemalan army's intelligence director. After coming second in the 2007 presidential race, he is the front-runner in this year's election on September nth. Should he win, he will be the first military man to become president since army rule ended in 1986. He promises to crush crime with a memo dura, or iron fist, by extending sentences, hiring 10,000 police, expanding video surveillance and lowering the age of criminal responsibility.
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