Guatemalan interim president seeks to help with government transition

Guatemala's new interim president Alejandro Maldonado assured Congress on Friday that he would help find a solution to the country's current crisis, local media reported.

Maldonado also asked the government to do all to prepare for the transition before the next president takes over in January, saying the current cabinet should be ready to resign at any time to aid the transition, local daily Republica reported.

Maldonado made his first cabinet change, asking Alfredo Pimentel, secretary of Administrative Affairs and Security, to step down in favor of Juan Jose Recinos.

He also nominated Raquel Zelaya, Alfonso Fuentes Soria, and Gabriel Medrano as vice presidential candidates. The Congress will vote on which of the three should assume the role the next few days.

Maldonado further announced that his presidential salary would be entirely donated to charities helping the elderly.

Guatemala is set to hold presidential elections on Sunday to pick a successor to former President Otto Perez Molina, who resigned from his position Thursday and was subsequently jailed for his involvement in a customs fraud ring.

Maldonado was chosen to serve as vice president in mid-May, after Perez Molina's vice president Roxana Baldetti was forced to step down amid allegations of corruption linked to the same scheme that brought down the president. Endi