Guatemala Aims at
Organized Crime
Fighting organized crime
in Guatemala today will
be one of the main
challenges to President
Alvaro Colom, who will
assume power on January
14, political analysts
said.
According to Carmen Aida
Ibarra, of the Myrna
Mack Foundation, the
country lives under
seige and has been
penetrated by criminal
powers that outlive all
governments.
Although drug traffic is
the most visible, due to
its belligerence and
economic capacity,
groups devoted to
kidnapping people, theft
and weapon smuggling,
car robbery and money
laundering, are also
operating in this
country.
According to National
Civil Police records,
those groups doubled the
number of kidnappings in
2007, in relation to the
previous year, with 92
cases reported, in which
eight people died.
Those gangs keep control
of territories and
authorities, have expert
investigators and
negotiators, cars and
buildings to hide their
prisoners, and can even
render services to the
population that the
government cannot offer,
namely jobs.
Their work is very
similar to that of the
Italian mafia family
structures, Guatemalan
Vice President Eduardo
Stein told the Siglo XXI
daily.
Asked about how they
have planned to face up
to the problem, the
future Administrative
and Security Affairs
head Carlos Quintanilla
explained that it would
be done, strengthening
civil, military, and
police intelligence.
All heads and
leaderships will be new,
occupied by
professionals, said
Quintanilla, and
asserted that they would
also dismantle groups
currently rooted in the
security machinery. |
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