This weekend, civil unrestbroke out in Guatemala City, after protesters lit part of their Congress building on fire to protest budget cuts.
Think of it as Guatemala's version of our House of Representatives in Belmopan, where the legislature passes laws. And for this protest, Guatemalans made it clear to their congress people that they would not accept the budget cuts.
The protesters and demonstrators took to the streets to complain that the bulk of the Government's funds would benefit big businesses. Some critics of the budget insisted that it put too much priority on big infrastructure projects while cutting spending on education and health. Those protesters argued that these priorities were misplaced because health ought to be the biggest concern.
And the protests worked. International press reports say that because of the unrest over the budget, the final steps to make it official were not taken. Speaker of the Guatemalan Congress, Alan Rodriguez, made a public announcement that leaders of some of the parties represented in the Congress had agreed to shelve the budget for the sake of the country's stability.
