Readers of mainstream U.S. news coverage of Guatemala’s November 2007 presidential election, in which voters handed a comfortable victory to Álvaro Colom Caballeros over Otto Pérez Molina, received a distorted picture of the issues Guatemala faces today. Reports mostly misrepresented the country’s political dynamics and misled the public about the nature of the violence that led to the deaths of more than 50 candidates, activists, and their family members during the campaign season.