Guatemalan president and first lady granted divorce

April 10, 2011

President of Guatemala and first lady  have been granted a divorce by a family court. The couple applied for a divorce so that Torres could stand for president when her husband steps down. The couple would have to divorce because of the Guatemalan constitution which states that close relatives of the president can not stand to be their successor.

Judge Mildred Roca said that she reached her decision to grant the couple a divorce last week, but had to delay making it official until other motions were ruled upon challenging the divorce. According to a spokesman from the, the judge was able to dismiss all objections as ill-advised or "frivolous".

The divorce has been meet with criticism from the public and opposition politicians. The couple has been accused of "legal fraud" and Otto Perez Molina, the main opposition candidate, still believes that if Torres runs for office it would still violate the constitution. Perez is the current front runner in the opinion polls with 47.2% while Torres is believed to have 13.7%.