Weekly News Round-Up

National News

• President-elect Perez Molina announced the appointment of three former Kaibiles to serve as Minister of Defense, Commander in Chief, and Sub-Commander in Chief—Noé Anzueto, René Casados Ramirez, and Manuel López Ambrosio, respectively.  All three appointees have had very close ties to the Kaibiles.
• Christa Castañeda Torres, the niece of former first lady Sandra Torres, will be tried this week on charges of money laundering in the municipality of Democracia, Huehuetenango.  Gloria Torres and her daughter, Maria Marta, are also being tried for money laundering and fraud.
• President-elect Pérez Molina expressed his support of the Attorney General, Claudia Paz y Paz, reiterating that he plans to maintain her mandate through his presidency.  U.S. Ambassador Arnold Chacon also showed his support of Paz y Paz, applauding her contributions and announcing an additional $3.2 million in U.S. funding to the Cicig.

International News

• InSight Crime looks at the achievements of Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, who has been responsible for some significant progress in Guatemala’s justice system and several high-profile arrests.  However, it appears the Paz y Paz’s position may be under fire by the incoming president, Otto Perez Molina.  While, Perez Molina announced this week his full intention to maintain her post, it remains to be seen how that promise will play out in the coming year.
• Guatemalan authorities announced the dismantling of a human sex trafficking ring that lured young Guatemalan women to work as prostitutes in Jordan.  The women were promised employment upon arrival in Jordan, but were instead sold for sexual exploitation.
• According to the annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) recently released by Transparency International, Guatemala’s perception of corruption increased significantly between 2010 and 2011, dropping from 90^th to 120^th out of 183 countries. Al-Jazeera analyzes the factors and recent events contributing to the drop.
• The Tico Times provides a harrowing report of the high rates of chronic malnutrition rampant among Guatemalan children and families.  According to the Times, malnourishment is a ‘life sentence,’ which greatly threatens the physical and mental development of young children.
• A piece by Southern Pulse analyzes the growing control of the Zetas drug cartel over the Guatemala-Mexico border, particularly the Chiapas-Peten corridor, in the context of recent arrests by security forces and Otto Pérez Molina’s promises to impose an aggressive military crack-down on narco-trafficking.
• The Guatemala Times and El Periodico report on the recent release of millions of documents from the Guatemalan national police archives, which will now be publicly available online thanks to collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin.  The documents contain valuable information on torture, forced disappearances and violence during Guatemala’s armed conflict. Read more about the archives and the history of the national police at UT-Austin’s website.

Weekly News Round-Up

National News

• Otto Pérez Molina met with the United States Commander in Chief of SOUTHCOM, General Douglas Fraser, earlier this week to discuss plans to improve intelligence services, special forces, paratroopers, kaibiles, the National Civil police and bolster radar capabilities in the fight against narco-trafficking.  During the meeting, General Fraser made promises to provide training and support to high and mid-level Guatemalan command forces, invited Pérez Molina to a Miami command base to learn about radar operations, and agreed to support the implementation of the C4i system.  The C4i system—command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence—is a US-funded and monitored technology project that would provide aerial and satellite photo capabilities, 6 Super Tucano airplanes, three radar systems, and meteorological computer monitoring.
• Amid a series of cabinet appointments announced this week, the president-elect has also announced plans to create a new vice-minister position to serve as a ‘sort-of czar of narco-trafficking’ to oversee all anti-narcotic activities and forces.  Pérez Molina did not provide details as to the financing or possible structure of such a position.
• Plaza Publica provides a lengthy and revealing profile of Rozana Baldetti, the first female to ever be elected vice-president in Guatemala.  The article covers some questionable aspects of Baldetti’s stint as a journalist, her conservative and religious social views, and her political path towards the Patriot Party.
• In regards to the extradition of Alfonso Portillo, the United States government has indicated that it has no responsibility to comply with the requirements of the American Human Rights Convention as requested by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala, because it is not an official signer of the convention.  Portillo has openly criticized President Colom’s decision to authorize his extradition, arguing that it was illegal and arbitrary.
• According to a report released by the Presidential Secretary of Women (SEPREM), 24.5% of women did not report incidents of violence due to feelings of embarrassment, while 17.4% didn’t report because they didn’t feel it was necessary and 15.7% feared retaliation.  In a recent press conference, Sonia Escobeda of SEPREM argued that violence against women in Guatemala has reached an ‘alarming rate’—in the past 10 years, 5,000 violent deaths against women have been recorded.
• Members of the Trans-Border, Migration and Gender Roundtable have expressed concerns over an increase in excessive violence against migrants on the Guatemalan-Mexico border.
• Earlier this week, security forces captured Elio Lorenzana, supposed narco-trafficker. Immediately following the capture, he was transferred to the capital city, where his sentence will be determined and the process of extradition to the United States will begin.
• Alongside Otto Perez Molina, Mauricio Lopez Bonilla will take office as the new Minister of the Interior in January.  In an interview with La Hora, Bonilla discusses some of the new administration’s plans to tackle security in Guatemala including the establishment of inter-institutional working groups, direct collaboration with the Attorney General’s office and Helen Mack, seeking assistance from U.S. intelligence officials, and re-employing kaibiles and paratroopers to bring down the Zetas.

International News

• The Huffington Post provides brief coverage of Portillo’s extradition, including a photo slide-show of the ex-president.  Portillo has been charged with money laundering related to the embezzlement of $1.5 million in foreign donation.
• Check out yet another damning report on the current situation of poverty, violence and corruption in Guatemala, published by IPS. The article focuses on the high child malnutrition rate, increasing murder rate, high level of impunity, and other challenges facing the incoming administration.
• For a more uplifting vignette, the New York Times covers a small but growing project to create Guatemala’s own version of Silicon Valley.  Housed in one simple brick building, Campus Tecnológico is a group of creative social and technology enterprises striving to turn the heart of Guatemala City into an entrepreneurial hub.

Crisis Group releases report on narcotrafficking and violence in Guatemala

The International Crisis Group, ‘an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict,’ recently released an extensive report documenting the recent influx of drug-trafficking and violence into Guatemala, highlighting state corruption, strategic geographic location and internal economic and social inequities as major factors contributing to the violence.  The report also includes an overview of the increased presence of the Los Zetas drug cartel and an evaluation of the state and judicial institutional systems, providing concrete recommendations for the incoming president. Check out the full report and executive summary. 

Following last month’s release, Kimberly Abbott (Communications Director for North America at the International Crisis Group) published an interview with Mark Schneider, Senior Vice President and Special Adviser on Latin America about the economic, geopolitical and institutional factors contributing to the increase in violence in Guatemala.  Schneider makes some recommendations for the incoming president, including support of Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, the work of Helen Mack and national police reform, and the International Commission Against Impunity (CICIG). Listen to the podcast, which provides a succinct and helpful explanation of why the violence has been increasing and what should be done about it.