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GUATEMALA: PRESIDENT ALFONSO PORTILLO REPLACES FOREIGN MINISTER TO FEND OFF U.S.

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Guatemala's Foreign Relations Minister Gabriel Orellana resigned his post on Dec. 12. He had held the job for three years. He said he quit for personal reasons, and Presidential Secretary General Luis Mijangos told the news media that President Alfonso Portillo had accepted the resignation and that Secretary of Strategic Analysis Edgar Gutierrez would replace him.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, John Hamilton arrived at the US Embassy. Upon presenting his credentials on Dec. 16, he became the new US ambassador to Guatemala. His arrival comes soon after former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Otto Reich pounded the Portillo government and the governing Frente Republicano Guatemalteca (FRG) on issues of corruption and organized crime at the highest levels of government. It was Orellana who met the Washington bombast head-on, demanding proof of Reich's allegations and characterizing them as outside diplomatic norms.

Hamilton is reported to have said at the Senate hearing on his appointment, "Corruption and organized crime are significant problems in Guatemala."

The local press is interpreting this to mean that the onslaught from the US will continue. Notice is also taken in Guatemala that Hamilton was ambassador in Peru, where, says one newspaper, "according to observers, he played a leading role in the events that triggered the fall of President Alberto...

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