2007, it established the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, an investigative organization aimed at prosecuting corrupt Guatemalan officials. Against all odds, the Commission has had some real success. In April, it uncovered a customs bribery scam called La Línea, which involved agents taking bribes at the border and sending kickbacks to the very top of the government. The revelations mobilized a massive protest movement against corruption, with weekly protests demanding that President Molina resign.

Popular anger over corruption fueled Morales's once-quixotic candidacy. Perhaps his chief opponent was Sandra Torres de Colom, a former first lady and hence an inherently establishmentarian figure. That made it very difficult for Torres de Colom to capitalize on the anti-corruption sentiment. The total outsider, Morales, was the candidate least likely to be taintedby scandal.

Before the campaign, Morales was well-known as a television comedian. In his most famous political sketch, he played a Guatemalan cowboy who — irony alert — becomes the country's president.

Morales parlayed his high name recognition to become a public face of the anti-corruption protests, using social media and other platforms favored by the demonstrators to ally himself with the cause.

In late August, just days before the election's first round of voting on September 6, Guatemalan officials arrested the country's vice president as part of its La Línea investigation — and publicly named President Molina the head of the scam. An arrest warrant for Molina was issued on September 2, and he was forced to resign.

After Molina's resignation, the change wave became unstoppable. Morales won the first round