GUATEMALA CITY —  Alvaro Colom was sworn in on Monday as Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, promising to fight poverty in a nation where half the people live on less than $1 a day.

Colom, who led Guatemala's efforts to coax thousands of refugees back home after its civil war ended, took office in a ceremony attended by world leaders including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe, who recently clashed over a hostage mission.

"Today is the beginning of privileges for the poor, the beginning of privileges for those without opportunities," Colom, 56, said after receiving the presidential sash to the tune of traditional Mayan music.

Despite his ideology, Guatemala's new leader said he doesn't want to be identified with other leftist governments in Latin America, including that of Chavez. In recent years, left-of-center leaders have been elected in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Colom has said each country must "find its own path," and that he won't accept Venezuela's offer of oil for preferential terms until he has consulted with his country's business elite.

Days after his Nov. 4 election win, Colom said he supported the free trade agreement with the United States and that he would ask Washington for aid to fight drug trafficking.

The ceremony was attended by Mayan leaders, some wearing colorful embroidered blouses and skirts. Also taking office Monday was Vice President Rafael Espada, a former Houston Methodist Hospital heart surgeon.

"We are going to fight for the unity of the country, for the harmony with our indigenous people," Colom said.

Colom, an industrial engineer, has pledged to build schools and medical centers, create jobs, and bring security to a country where gangs behead victims and drug traffickers control much of the police forces.

But even Colom has recognized his job won't be easy. Half of Guatemala's 13 million people live on less than $1 a day, and discrimination against the ethnic Mayan majority is rampant.

Colom plans to recruit business leaders by having them participate in a so-called "Social Pact" to improve the economy and alleviate poverty.

Speaking to reporters before the ceremony, Chavez said Venezuela was ready to help Colom's government any way it could, including with oil at preferential terms, investment and other aid.

"The doors are open," the Venezuelan leader said.

Colom defeated former Gen. Otto Perez in the presidential election, becoming Guatemala's first leftist leader since Jacobo Arbenz was thrown out of office in 1954 by a CIA-orchestrated coup.

Colom is best known for his work with the government and the U.N. to bring home more than 40,000 refugees, mostly Mayan, after the civil war ended in 1996. The conflict left 200,000 people dead and thousands more missing. The refugees honored him by training him as a minister in their religion.

His Cabinet will only have one Mayan representative: Culture Minister Jeronimo Lancerio, and one woman, Education Minister Ana de Molina. He has said his deputy ministers will be more diverse.

The ceremony provided Chavez with his the first opportunity to meet face-to-face with Uribe since the two were at odds over the release of rebel-held hostages in Colombia. It wasn't immediately clear if the two spoke at Monday's inauguration.

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