Antonio Wholers, candidate for deputy for the Oportunidades y Desarrollo Party (PODER), narrates how a doctor specializing in gynecology became involved in politics to the point that he will be a candidate for deputy. “We don’t want more of the same,” he emphasizes more than once, and remembers that this phrase is literal: none of the options that the government has already made could solve the most felt problems in Guatemala, he affirms..
Roxana Orantes Cordova
Wholers arrives at the interview accompanied by his wife, who he says is key in his life. Friend, advisor and companion in all her adventures, she supports him in projecting a jovial and youthful image.
“There is no successful man without the support of his wife,” he explains, adding that “it’s not like the phrase behind a great man…it’s next door. For this reason, the figure of the man and the woman appears in the party logo, as pairs”.
It seems contradictory that a surgeon leans towards a world as hazardous as politics, but according to the interviewee, reaching electoral participation was almost a logical consequence of his interest in the community.
Among others, she formed a Facebook group called the Menopause Club, where more than twenty thousand women share concerns and receive doctor’s advice. In addition, she gives talks on sex education in schools and colleges, for all levels of students.
Wholers, who is totally opposed to the so-called 2030 Agenda, participates as a candidate for deputy in the second box on the national list and aspires to work in commissions such as Women’s and Health.
What is the ideology of your party?
Freedom, right to privacy. We are theocentric, we defend private property and nature. We also have a right-wing ideological position.
How do you position yourself in citizen security and defense of private property?
Drastic, harsh. Guatemala is currently the most violent country in Central America while El Salvador is the safest in Latin America. The Penitentiary System must stop being a hotel and be completely reformed. Those who have to be should be in jails.
We will have a radical position with organizations like MLP-CODECA that steals light, and characters like Joviel Acevedo, in addition to gang members and organized crime.
What are the main problems in Guatemala?
We have had several corrupt governments that greatly damaged Guatemala. For example, Jimmy Morales with the Libramiento de Chimaltenango, at an impressive cost. Alejandro Giammattei, a disappointment for his voters.
This is one of the countries with the worst indicators, the highest birth rate, children with a smaller size than other countries, and very high child malnutrition. We have one of the worst road systems in the world, lousy roads.
Do you think there is a solution?
They lack good Guatemalans. We deserve change, our brave and haughty children must unite. We have had governments of the left and right, but they have all disappointed us.
What does PODER propose if it reaches the government?
We do not have a government plan but a government agenda. We believe that an agenda is more viable to be fulfilled. We propose prosperity, development and opportunity. POWER will make history.
What are the PODER militants like?
It is a large group, very diverse. Among them, the engineer Walfre Lara; Doctor of Theology Edgar Mérida, who presides over the union of meat vendors and is part of a group of merchants from La Terminal; the lawyer Ana Lucas, the architect Byron Illescas and many more.
How do you rate the TSE?
It has lost credibility. It would have to be reformed, perhaps renamed. We are afraid of who is going to count the votes. We don’t trust any old school politician. We need a lot of prosecutors on election day.
What is your position on the tax issue?
At PODER we believe that Guatemalans should no longer be required to support the political class and thousands of state workers that not even the government itself knows how many there are. Therefore, the Income Tax; the tax on the transport of electrical energy; the ISO and the IUSI for us should not exist.
We should have a single tax that is flat tax, a 10% VAT with an expansion of the tax base. We believe that this would not punish the pockets of Guatemalans so much, already severely punished by the coming inflation.
In addition, the national budget must be in accordance with what is received from taxes. We cannot have unfunded income. And if for that it is necessary to reduce the income of the ministries and other secretariats, it will have to be done.