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Insecure Guatemala Needs Big
Changes
Rather than a change of
authorities, Guatemala needs to
reform institutional policies to
solve the crisis of insecurity
and violence that has hit the
country, social leader Sandino
Asturias said on Tuesday.
In statements to Prensa Latina,
Asturias denounced the existence
here of "a process of
militarization and repression,
in which homicide has become the
way to counter conflicts."
"The escalation of
assassinations during this
government has been notorious.
We are talking about more than
16,000 homicides in three
years," said Asturias, who is
also the director of the Center
of Studies on Guatemala.
He added that the most serious
thing is that the number of
criminal investigators has
dropped from 700 in 2001 to 435
in 2007, a situation that has
reinforced institutional
impunity.
Asturias denounced the
documented participation of
members of the National Civil
Police in extrajudicial
executions, and regretted that
1,605 officers fired for
committing crimes have been
readmitted to their positions.
The CEG director gave Interior
Minister Adela de Torrebiarte a
global study on the situation in
Guatemala, in which he
recommends reforming the
National Civil Police,
restricting weapons and
approving a National Security
System.
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