Drug-running in Guatemala

Here are a couple of articles that reflect the death-grip that the drug trade has on Guatemala.

How desperate is the situation? Well, Guatemala's drug czar, Adan Castillo, just quit out frustration. When asked by Guatemalan newspaper Siglo XXI if there is a lack of political will within the government to fight drug trafficking, he replied:

"I haven't seen it and I doubt that there will be any for at least another 100 years here in Guatemala. At the moment there is no-one who will do this, because the drug cartels are very strong. They are believed to own about a the third of the country; therefore it is a very difficult subject which, as time goes by, only becomes worse."

Siglo XXI, 4 noviembre 2005

Here's more on his resignation:

Chief Guatemalan anti-drug investigator says his country no match for smugglers

By Will Weissert
Associated Press

Guatemala City – He's Guatemala's top anti-narcotics investigator, and he's tired of fighting a losing battle.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Adan Castillo said he plans to step down in December, after just six months on the job.

"There are moments when you start to think you're swimming against the current," he said. "At those times, it's easy to think, 'If there aren't other institutions that can support me, if the government itself is weak in its responses, there's nothing left to do but leave it in God's hands.'"

Castillo said his country's anti-drug agents are no match for smugglers.

"They have speedboats with up to four motors, modern technology, the most modern communication systems and contacts all over the American Isthmus," he said. "It's easy for them."

Smugglers use bribes to pay off "information sources that are absolutely excellent," he said. "So they realize how the state is working. They monitor the state and the authorities and then do analysis on how to handle the drugs."

As many as 4,000 smugglers operate in Guatemala, Castillo said. They get cocaine shipments and move them to the Mexican border, where more powerful gangs take over.

He said a key lieutenant of one of Mexico's most wanted drug lords, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, oversees operations along the Mexico-Guatemala border and that Guzman himself is believed to have spent time in this country.

Castillo also said five major Colombian drug traffickers, whom he did not identify, were advising four formerly rival Guatemalan smuggling gangs on how to build a more powerful cartel. The groups have rallied together around reputed Guatemalan drug lord Otto Herrera, who escaped from a Mexican prison in May.

"Before, the organizations were jealous and were killing each other's members," he said. "Now they are forming a single cartel in Guatemala to dominate all of Central America."

Castillo said Herrera has been moving between Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and hopes to lead a Guatemala-based super cartel that can stand up to Colombian and Mexican drug gangs.

"This would give them tremendous power," he said of the proposed smuggling syndicate. "It would be very serious for us."

How prevalent are the drug smugglers? So much so that fishermen in the town of Ocos strings light bulbs across the bow of their fishing boats during overnight expeditions to prevent drug-running "go-fast" speedboats from ramming them!

Guatemala is key in drug smugglers' route

By Will Weissert
Associated Press

Ocos, Guatemala -- The dark, volcanic-sand beaches of this town just south of the Mexican border are mostly empty, populated by plump black pigs and an occasional surfer. It's the perfect spot for cocaine runners.

They arrive by sea and steer past the choppy waves of the Pacific into unguarded lagoons and lakes to unload their product.

A geographic midpoint between the jungles of Colombia and northern Mexico's coveted border smuggling corridors, 75 percent of the cocaine that reaches American soil passes through Guatemala, according to anti-drug authorities at the U.S. Embassy.

Drug traffickers have focused on this Central American nation in part because the government long did little to stop them. Police corruption, funding shortfalls and an ineffective judicial system helped smuggling flourish.

President Oscar Berger took office in January 2004 promising to undo the damage of his predecessor, Alfonso Portillo, who caused Washington to drop Guatemala from its list of anti-narcotics allies. But he has made little progress.

Read the entire article

Tags: Guatemala, Drugs, Smuggling