Guatemala Promises
Security
Guatemala - New
Guatemalan Government
Minister Salvador
Gandara promised to show
more short-term results
in the struggle against
insecurity and violence,
considered today the
main social problems in
this country.
According to the new
Interior minister, there
will be a permanent
patrolling of the city's
most dangerous areas,
especially zones 1 and
18 and the
municipalities adjacent
to Villa Nueva, Mixco
and Chinautla.
In a press conference at
the National Civil
Police (PNC)
headquarters, Gandara
asserted that his
appointment has the
objective of immediately
solving the most serious
problems created by
delinquency.
He also called the
governors, municipal
corporations and the
population to make a
joint effort to fight
the unsafe conditions.
During 2008, criminal
actions increased and
there was evidence of
the presence of Mexican
drug traffickers and
their armed groups,
which were held
responsible for three
massacres in the
country's eastern and
western regions.
The daily average figure
of homicides was 18,
higher than that in
2007. There were over
600 murders of women and
kidnapping and extortion
reports doubled all over
the national territory,
according to PNC
statistics.
To face this situation,
President Alvaro Colom
replaced Francisco
Jimenez with Salvador
Gandara as head of the
Government ministry, and
announced the start of
the National Security
Council's work.
Different social sectors
are demanding rapid
approval in Congress of
important laws to fight
violence, as that of
arms and ammunition
control, at a standstill
for over four years in
Parliament.
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