Guatemalans Appalled by Violence
Monday the Guatemalan government presented members of a special 300-man armed force to patrol the city buses in the capital in an effort to stop the towering violence that keeps the population frightened.

The force will be stationed in the areas with highest crime rates, where the number of victims is constantly increasing.

However, the measure has generated low expectations in a country where 98 percent of crimes remain unpunished, due to weakness of the judicial system, according to local media reports.

The Prensa Libre daily reported 4,506 assassinations in Guatemala through September, but just 102 people were brought to trial and sentenced.

For Police Criminal Investigation director Victor Soto, lack of collaboration by the victims´ relatives is an aspect that contributes to impunity.

Luis Ramirez, of the Criminal Science Comparative Research Institute, asserted that the witness-protection system is very deficient, generating fear and insecurity.

Besides, September was the most violent month in the country´s capital, with an average of eight daily killings, half those registered in the entire country.

The Guatemalan government has already incorporated 3,000 army agents into police security patrols, but the continually climbing rates of violence show the effort was unfruitful.

Social organizations criticized the use of soldiers in patrols, considering it ineffective and inappropriate, and want the police reinforced to improve its work.