[Aztlan] Guatemala's New (Age) President?

[Hoopes, John W]

It looks as if Maya religion--perhaps with some New Age synchretism--has finally found a place in Guatemalan politics:
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7081312.stm <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7081312.stm> 
 
"The 56-year-old Mr Colom has a background in the textile business and does not belong to any of the 23 Mayan ethnic groups who make up more than 40% of the population. 

"But he has been ordained a Mayan priest, and drew much of his electoral support from the rural areas where poverty amongst indigenous groups is deep-rooted. 

"Mr Colom, who will start his four-year term on 14 January, says he will regularly consult a group of spiritual leaders, known as the Mayan Elders National Council."

The council is headed by Don Alejandro Cirilo Pérez Oxlaj, who instructed the new Guatemalan president (described a "non-Mayan Mayan") in traditional daykeeping.  He is said to have represented indigenous Mayas at Colom's inauguration.  Don Alejandro is a promnent figure in New Age "Mayanism", and is known for making references to Atlantis, contact with Pleiadeans (extraterrestrial entities), and speculations concerning the Maya calendar and 2012.  He's been supported by Carl Johan Calleman and was featured in a recent film called "The Shift of the Ages":

http://www.shiftingages.com <http://www.shiftingages.com> 

Here's more from Common Passion:

http://www.commonpassion.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=80 <http://www.commonpassion.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=80> 

Some additional news stories about Guatemala's new president and the inauguration:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jbDxDtTYPnPE86bTH2P0_aJ2iylgD8U54NEO0 <http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jbDxDtTYPnPE86bTH2P0_aJ2iylgD8U54NEO0> 

"Guatemala's new president, Alvaro Colom received training as a Mayan priest... Colom is best known for his work with the Guatemalan government and the U.N. to bring home more than 40,000 refugees, mostly Mayan, after the civil war ended in 1996 and invest hundreds of millions of government dollars in the areas that were hardest hit by the war. The refugees honored him by training him as a minister in their religion." <http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j5UNTdZ5b8neltDaP5pHQ7f2BgMgD8U5UUBG1> 

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gjyJZ2X5qn17Qw8KSxRH5dMgpVWQ <http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gjyJZ2X5qn17Qw8KSxRH5dMgpVWQ> 

"Colom, one of just three non-Mayas to be made a Mayan priest, has told reporters that he plans 'to convert Guatemala into a social-democratic country with a Mayan face.'

John Hoopes