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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Guatemala, the most populous nation in Central America, is finding very difficult to turn back to its horrendous past. No fewer than a quarter of a million persons were killed between 1960 and 1996 in a civil war, a local tragedy that reflected the bigger Cold War conflict. Since then, the country is trying to overcome this legacy, without major breakthroughs. The violence is paramount, on a similar scale with that during the civil conflict. This time the perpetrators and victims don't clash over ideologies. Money and illegal drugs have replaced the class battlegrounds. With a predominantly poor population, there are plenty of people ready to fight for just any cause. With a society when the main source of foreign currency is labor remittances coming from the United States, it's hard to see any real possibility for this nation to overcome its perennial economic backwardness.

To begin on an optimistic note, Guatemala is no more in a state of war with itself. Since 1996, to be more precise. And yet, the number of people killed in armed violence on the streets can hardly be seen on the decrease. If the official statistics are telling the truth, the civil war took approximately 7,000 lives each year between 1960 and 1996. Since then, the recycled former fighters, now employed by organized criminal groups, are killing in average 6,000 people each year. The country is officially not in a war, but it's hardly in peace with itself. This high level of criminality easily spills over from purely economic to other domains. During the current presidential campaign, tens of political activists were killed for as little as distributing leaflets. It seems that to murder someone in Guatemala isn't considered anymore as making a big psychological step. The evil becomes trivial.

Guatemala is a poor country, but this shouldn't be taken as an accusation. So many now rich countries at some point in the past were desperately poor. So many poor now countries have big plans for the future. Some others at least have resources to build upon their dreams. None of the above exists in Guatemala. Material scarcity, fatalism, lack of a rational view to the world, which isn't disturbed by magic and miracles of all sorts, these are the values that dominate in the country. But the people aren't unhappy; on the world scale they occupy a position well in the middle. So what we can see as signs of desperation is precisely what the people in Guatemala are looking for; this is their world; unthinkable for many of reading this, but the only one possible for most of them.

Guatemala seems incapable for endogenous economic growth, a growth generated by its own means following its proper desire for development. Therefore, unless some political quake of large magnitude shakes Central America, which may be just anything, even radical left takeover in some neighboring countries, there is no way of seeing this country moving away from its sleep, a bad combination of traditionalism and banditry. The evolutionary path, especially coming from external sources, is unthinkable, at least for now. Until these economic exogenous shocks reach Guatemala and make it move, the youngest among us may already be thinking for retirement.

Guatemala country profile:

• Area: 108,890 sq. km
• Coastline: 400 km
• Population: 12.7 million (July 2007 est.)
• Life expectancy at birth: 69.69 years
• Ethnic groups: mestizo 60% and Amerindian 40%.
• GDP per capita: purchasing power parity $5,000 (2006 est.)
• Population below poverty line: 56.2% (2006 est.)
• Main trading partners: Unites States, El Salvador, Mexico, and China.
• Internet users: 1.3 million (2006)

(Sources: CIA World Factbook 2007; Reuters)

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Guatemala.