Guatemala candidate accuses rival of death threats

By Mica Rosenberg

GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Guatemala's center-left presidential hopeful Alvaro Colom accused his right-wing rival's campaign on Wednesday of sending death threats in the waning days of what has been a violent election race.

Colom, a soft-spoken former deputy economy minister making his third bid for president, said he received 75 text messages on his telephone Tuesday night, before a televised debate between him and his rival, former Gen. Otto Perez Molina.

"They were vulgar insults ... death threats," Colom told reporters after a meeting with local rural leaders in the capital. "I know these came directly from my rival's campaign."

Perez Molina denied any connection to the threats.

Chain-smoking former businessman Colom, who won the first round of voting in September, has reported threats against his life before and travels with a cadre of armed security guards.

"We hope these incidents ... aren't part of a psychological war designed with military tactics," Colom's spokesman said in a written statement.

In the past, Colom has blamed the threats on powerful drug gangs trying to influence the outcome the campaign.

Perez Molina was the head of military intelligence during Guatemala's 36-year civil war. He worked in a specialized unit known for orchestrating misinformation campaigns, according to a U.N.-backed truth commission report published after the peace accords.

Perez Molina said divisions in Colom's social-democratic National Unity for Hope, or UNE, could be to blame for the threats.

"We are fighting to win votes here. We don't have time to worry about threatening anyone," Perez Molina told Reuters. "Instead of blaming us, he should take a look inside his own party."

In the back-and-forth between the two candidates, who are running neck-and-neck in the latest polls, Perez Molina has accused drug traffickers of funding the UNE.

Colom's lead strategist resigned last week saying he feared for his life and his family.

Over 50 candidates and party activists have been killed since campaigning began over a year ago, making this the country's bloodiest race since the end of the 1960-1996 civil war.

Colom blames drugs traffickers trying to muscle their way into the UNE for the murders of 14 of the 18 party members killed since last year.

Guatemala, a major transport hub for Colombian cocaine on its way to the United States, is overrun by violent street gangs and organized crime rings, giving the small central American nation one of the highest murder rates in the world.