Guatemala first couple's divorce on hold
Sandra Torres said she would divorce her husband for the love of her country
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A court in Guatemala has ordered a halt to the divorce proceedings of the country's first couple.
First Lady Sandra Torres said last week she was seeking to divorce President Alvaro Colom, so she could stand for election to succeed him.
Guatemala's constitution bans close relatives of the president from running for the top office.
A group of students had petitioned the court to stop the divorce, which they said would bypass the constitution.
The students called the move by the first couple a farce.
Last week, Ms Torres told Guatemalans she was leaving a loving marriage for the sake of the nation.
Death threats
The decision of the first couple to seek a divorce has been controversial, with opposition politicians and the Catholic Church highly critical.
The main opposition candidate for the presidential election in September, former general Otto Perez Molina, called it electoral fraud.
A spokesperson for the court said the couple's divorce proceedings would be on hold until a final decision was reached on whether the petition brought by the students would be allowed to proceed.
On Friday, the judge hearing the first couple's divorce case said she had received anonymous threats warning her not to grant the divorce.
Judge Mildred Roca said she had received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as belonging to a "group defending the constitution" and warning her that if she granted the divorce a member of her family would be executed.
Judge Roca's security detail has been increased since news of the threats emerged and an investigation is under way to determine their source.
Sandra Torres is Mr Colom's third wife and is already a divorcee. They have been married for eight years.
She has played a prominent role in Alvaro Colom's presidency, supervising the government's poverty relief programmes.
When she confirmed the news of the divorce last week, Ms Torres said the decision, which will force the first couple to live apart, was "very difficult".
President Colom in 2010
The divorce of Guatemalan president  and first lady  has been halted by a court after Torres said that she was divorcing her husband so she can run for president in the next election. The Guatemalan constitution bans the president's close relatives standing for office.

A petition was taken to the court by a group of students, claiming the divorce is a "farce" that would bypass the constitution. Otto Perez Molina, the main opposition candidate, called the divorce . As first lady Torres has played a big role in politics during the presidency.

Mildred Roca, the judge overseeing the couple's divorce hearing, reported receiving a threatening anonymous telephone call against granting the divorce. The caller described himself as from a "group defending the constitution". During the call he threatened to execute her family should the divorce be granted.

President Colom has been married twice before and the first couple have been together for eight years.