Jimmy Morales used to do blackface comedy. He’s now poised to be Guatemala’s president.
Jimmy Morales used to do blackface comedy. He’s now poised to be Guatemala’s president.
By Joshua Partlow September 19
MEXICO CITY — As a TV comedian, Jimmy Morales has played bumbling drunks, spies, gangsters, a toga-wearing Socrates, even a blackface character with an Afro wig and a painted white mouth. Among the plots of his Guatemalan comedy bits was a cowboy who accidentally became president.
Morales is poised to ride this unlikely background all the way to the real presidential palace. After President Otto Pérez Molina and his vice president, Roxana Baldetti, were both thrown in jail for alleged corruption, Guatemalans became so disillusioned with their politicians that Morales and his outsider candidacy surged in the polls. During the first round of the presidential elections this month, Morales came in first, edging out former first lady Sandra Torres. His campaign slogan was plain and simple: "Not corrupt, not a thief."
But with no political experience, many have begun to wonder what he might do if elected in next month's runoff vote. As a television host told him over the summer: "We want to know the surprise candidate."
"Are you left? Are you right? What are you?"
Morales has styled himself as a centrist and has run on being transparent, an outsider to a rigged game. He says his priorities are fighting corruption and dealing with chronic malnutrition, low education levels and insecurity in the country. The U.N. corruption-investigating organization CICIG, which helped take down several members of Pérez Molina's government, would be welcome throughout his term if he were president, Morales said in an interview. "It's the entity that has the most credibility in Guatemala," he said.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/19/jimmy-morales-used-to-do-black-face-comedy-hes-now-poised-to-be-guatemalas-president/
