Dozens of impoverished old people set up camp in front of Guatemala's Constitutional Court today and started a hunger strike to protest the government's failure to pay pensions. 

Elderly Guatemalans, angry at President Oscar Berger's opposition to a bill that would grant them a small pension, accuse the government of skirting its social responsibilities. 

"This is the first time in history that the grandparents of this nation have decided to go on hunger strike. We are staying here indefinitely until we get a response," said Hector Montenegro, 70, who represents the protesters. 

"We would rather die here than on our knees, waiting to starve to death in our houses," he said, standing in front of the protesters, where old women with ruffled aprons and few teeth sat on mattresses, holding signs and blowing whistles. 

The dispute began last year when Guatemala's Congress passed a law guaranteeing $US67 ($NZ107.45) a month to 500,000 of the country's poorest people aged 65 and over, who have no other form of social security. 
But the president vetoed the bill late last year, claiming the government did not have the 1 million quetzals ($NZ210,479.55) needed annually to support it. Congress tried to overrule the president's veto and the dispute has now been sent to the courts to be resolved this month. 

Guatemala has one of the lowest tax collection rates in Latin America and was criticised by both the World Bank and International Monetary fund this year for failing to boost social spending to alleviate poverty.