Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
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Violence, Gangs and Narcotrafficking: 2010
October 6, 2010: U.S. expresses concern over declining security in both Guatemala and Honduras related to narcotrafficking. David Johnson, State Department official in the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, announced that Guatemala remains an important case in the Latin American region. He stated that $500,000 has been pledged to police resources and Customs and Immigration collaboration on the border. [Prensa Libre]
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October 5, 2010: Members of CICIG affirm that they have dismantled at least 5 organized crime groups since 2009. Judges, attorneys, and investigators of the CICIG assure that their use of “effective collaborators” since 2009 has allowed them to dismantle at least five organized crime groups, including their leaders. The strategy has involved giving reduced sentences to defendants in the case who plead guilty and provide key information about activities of the organization or to other actors, especially leaders. Although it hasn’t been effective in all cases, it has led to the capture of those responsible for the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg, Khalil and Marjorie Musa, and the assassination of 15 Nicaraguans. [Prensa Libre]
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July 27, 2010: Mexican drug cartels bring violence with them in move to Central America. A Washington Times article reports that high levels of insecurity and violence in the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) make this region attractive to Mexican drug cartels. A GAO report also showed that the $1.6 billion US antidrug plan known as the Merida Initiative has only spent 9% of its funds and has no means of measuring its progress. In Guatemala, a Mexican group known as the Zetas is organizing training camps of assassins who are ex-military. For Guatemala, the insecurity is the result of a weak government. [Washington Post]
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July 22, 2010: Ranchers and Drug Barons Threaten Rain Forest. The Maya Biosphere Reserve is Central America’s largest protected area, equivalent to the size of New Jersey and making up a fifth of Guatemala. Unfortunately, this large rainforest (home for jaguars, scarlet macaws, crocodiles, spider monkeys, and other species) also shelters drug traffickers, squatters, looters, poachers, and cattle ranchers. These groups are causing significant harm to the environment and to ancient Mayan sites. President Alvaro Colom wants to transform this reserve into an eco-tourist designation through the Cuatro Balam plan. The current inhabitants need to be addressed with before this plan can be fully realized, but enforcement is difficult when there are only 600 soldiers for the 14,000 square mile area and each park guard monitors a 12,000 acre area. [NY Times]
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July 15, 2010: Guatemala: Squeezed between Crime and Impunity. A study conducted by the International Crisis Group on crime and impunity in Guatemala finds that Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in the world. In 2009, at least 6,500 people were murdered. There is also a growing number of youth gangs and groups of drug traffickers from Mexico. This leads to a reduced of a sense of security which ultimately causes people to take matters into their own hands through lynchings and other acts.
Contributors to the violence: failure to confront the underlying causes of the armed conflict, to implement the Peace Accords, and to dismantle the clandestine security forces. The police force is also weak and corrupt. The government of Alvaro Colom also lacks the capacity and stability to combat the violence.
Signs of Improvement: To strengthen the justice system and battle the groups of drug traffickers and organized criminals, the U.N. created an agreement with the Guatemalan government that established the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The problem is that, unless its mandate is extended, the commission ends in 2011.
Recommendations: Alvaro Colom needs to make improvements in the nation’s governing structures if he wants to adequately confront the levels of violence in Guatemala and ensure a greater sense of security for its citizens. [International Crisis Group]
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July 1, 2010: LA Times Editorial: Guatemala at Risk. Crime and corruption are as pervasive as ever. The Obama administration should pay close attention to Guatemala, which may be at more immediate risk than Mexico of becoming a failed state.
Part of this reasoning is due to the high levels of violence and crime in Guatemala, which include 6,500 murders in 2009. These are attributed to the “unholy trinity” of drug-traffickers, organized crime groups with former military and police members, and delinquents. In 7 of 22 provinces, organized criminals have no apparent threats to their control in the regions.
The article also takes into account the resignation of Carlos Castresana as head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala due to the government’s unwillingness to make recommended reforms. While leaving, Castresana forced the resignation of the Attorney General who he accused of having ties to organized crime. The CICIG has made at least a dozen recommendations for judicial reform that have been ignored by the government.
The belief in democracy in Guatemala is also slight with only 57% preferring it to authoritarian rule. As the editorialist writes, “that’s bad news for Guatemala, its neighbors, and the United States”. [LA Times]
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June 9, 2010:Guatemala is on the List of Regions without Peace. A yearly study, at the global level, placed the Guatemala at 112 out of 149 countries because on measurements of violence.The latest report of the Global Peace Index (GPI), produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, indentified Guatemala among the least pacific countries in the world, based on the rise in delinquency, homicides, and internal violence which reflects the different indicators analyzed by experts from an array of institutions for peace. The level of violence in the country rose in relation to the previous year. In 2009, it placed 111 of the 144 studied countries, while in 2010 Guatemala is situated at 112 in a list of 149 countries. Read full article (English). [Siglo XXI]
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April 27, 2010: Treasury sanctions Guatemalan drug family. The Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions against Guatemala's Lorenzana family, accusing them of running one of the country's biggest drug trafficking networks, with ties to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. [Washington Post] [Prensa Libre] [Siglo XXI]
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March 25, 2010:UN publishes 2009 human rights report. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights made 16 recommendations to the Guatemalan government, including the prioritization of the reduction of insecurity, combating poverty, and the strengthening of the rule of law. Specifically, it mentioned the importance of progressive and integral tax reform and transparency for all public spending. The report noted some positive developments such as free education services, and the passage of a number of laws including the Law against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking, and the Constitutional Court's recognition of forced disappearance as a permanent crime. However, the UN report highlighted the increasing number of homicides, which, according to police reports, rose to 6,498 in 2009, a 4% increase from 2008. 83% of the crimes were committed with a firearm. [Siglo XXI]
[Read UN report in English / Spanish]______________________________________
February 26, 2010: US Defense Department warns of the transfer of bases of narco-trafficking networks to Central America. The US Department of Defense sees the transfer of bases to Central America as a result of political pressure in Colombia, Mexico and the Carribbean. The US plans to send some 100 million dollars to Central America through the Merida Initiative to address this "nightmare." [Prensa Libre]
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February 25, 2010: Hillary Clinton’s Visit to Guatemala Will Center around Drug Trafficking. United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, will visit Guatemala on March 5 where she will address issues related to drug trafficking and the strengthening of Guatemala’s military, officials said yesterday. “The visit is to reinforce conversations we had last week,” during the visit to Washington, President Colom stated at an improvised press conference. This will be part of Secretary Clinton’s first tour of Latin America since she was appointed in 2009. [Latribuna]
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February 19, 2010: President Colom asks the United States to Enlarge the Mérida Initiative. Colom persues help with agricultural programs dedicated to helping families currently cultivating poppy and marijuana. Many bilateral issues were discussed in the meeting between President Colom and Secretary Clinton. With the intent of discuss opportunities for development, through agricultural programs, for families that cultivate poppies and marijuana, President Colom asked Secretary of State Clinton for the enlargement of the Mérida Initiative. Ronaldo Robles, secretary of Presidential Social Communication, confirmed that the Secretary showed interest in the proposal and although she did not give an official answer, offered support for the rural development. The Mérida Initiative is $1.4 billion program designed to support, with materials, personnel and training, the countries of Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean in their fight against organized crime. Colom took the opportunity to invite Clinton to Guatemala, in order to see the social programs currently being implemented and to visit the archaeological site El Mirador.
To conclude his visit to the United States, Colom announced to new agencies that the United Nations will open an antidrug and crime office, known as UNODOC, to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking in the region. The office would being operations in June or July. According to the mandate, UNODOC the compliment the work of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), directed by Carlos Castresana.Colom returned to Guatemala on Thursday, after three days in the United States. [DEGUATE]
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January 26, 2010: 2009 - The Most Violent Year for Human Rights Defenders. Unionists, community leaders, journalists and defenders of truth and justice were the principal victims of threats and assassinations in 2009 with 343 attacks on humanitarian activists. Claudia Samayoa, coordinator for the Protection Unit for Human Rights Defenders affirmed that 2009 was the most violent year for activists in a decade. Unionists were the most targeted group with 120 attacks, a 225% increase from 2008. Similarly, attacks against the defenders of truth and justice jumped from 42 cases to 96 cases while attacks against human rights defenders increased by 40%. [CERIGUA]
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