The security It is one of the most important issues for Guatemalan population and appears among the main challenges for the new government of President Bernardo Arévalo, given the threat of the delinquencyassaults, extortions and the expansion of international drug trafficking.
Francisco Jiménez, the new Minister of the Interior, an expert in security issues who has already dealt with that position and who has become the strong man behind the new president.
His priority, he indicated, is to put an end to the extortions.
“As President Arévalo offered, the issue of extortion is the one we are going to give the most priority to, particularly this year.“said the minister in an interview with The Associated Press this week.
Jiménez explained that the issue of extortion in the country is different from others, such as in neighboring El Salvador, where it mostly comes from gangs. He stated that in the case of Guatemala there would be two different phenomena that are gang extortionswhich correspond to 20% of the cases, and “imitators” of gang members, who represent the remaining 80%.
The official anticipated that a public campaign against extortion will be promoted, the work already done by the police and the prosecutor’s office will be strengthened, as well as police intelligence work directed largely at the prison system.
“We believe that most extortion arises from prison systemalso other high-impact crimes such as kidnappings and hitmen organized within prisons.”, he assured.
KM is a young Guatemalan woman who says she has been extorted and does not want to identify herself for this report for fear of retaliation.
She told the AP that when she opens the doors of her small grocery store in one of the red zones on the outskirts of the city, she does so with the fear that alleged gang members will want to leave her a cell phone to extort money from her. This is the modality they use in Guatemala to extort people, he points out.
The woman assured that she has been extorted before, and that under death threats, gang members gathered all the merchants on her block to extort them. “They asked us for money in exchange for not dismembering us.”.
The woman, who is a single mother, pointed out that the extortion is priceless, stating that they ask her for much more money than what her business gives her on a daily basis. She said that she tried to close the business, but she reopened it due to lack of financial resources and even with the fear of being murdered.
On Wednesday, Arévalo told reporters that his government will reform the prison system from the country. “We think that the deficiencies of the penitentiary system and the havoc caused by corruption are the focus of much of the citizen security from the country“, held.
The practice of crimes from prisons is not exclusive to the Central American nation. Other countries of Latin America They also fight to combat crimes emanating from their prisons. Ecuadorfor example, maintains that a good part of the spiral of violence that the Andean country suffers arises from the gangs of organized crime and of drug trafficking that control the cells.
The scourge of narcoactivity It is also a tough challenge that the new Guatemalan leader promises to face, who came to the presidency championing the fight against corruption that, according to experts, has long been rooted in institutions and sectors of society.
In the security forces There will also be changes to combat corruption, according to the new authorities.
On his way to the presidency, Arévalo had to face numerous judicial actions against the electoral process that, according to critics, sought to prevent him from assuming office. The maneuvers, according to the president himself, emerged from the Attorney General’s Office commanded by Consuelo Porras.
The question that arises is whether the new Central American leader will be able to advance in his promised fight against corruption with a prosecutor’s office under the control of Porras. Arévalo announced that next week he will meet with the prosecutor where he would ask for his resignation.
In his statements to the AP, Minister Jiménez also pointed out that the approach to the scourge will be comprehensive, because — he considered — it is not only about combating drug trafficking, but also about border control. Along these lines, he anticipated that a vice-ministry in charge of combating corruption will be restructured. narcoactivityso that it now also faces smuggling, customs fraud and human trafficking.
“We have to go beyond, not only the capture and identification of group leaders (of the drug trafficking) but in addition, the structures of organized crime will also be worked on, which many times are not dedicated only to one crime, but are linked to several”, he noted.
The minister also spoke about the border situation, especially with Mexicowhere he said that there is a fight for territories between criminal gangs. “One of the objectives will be the recovery of the territories, especially the borders”, and added that in this matter they will work in cooperation with the Guatemalan Army, a function assigned to it by the Constitution.
He said that of the four borders with Guatemalathe most complex is the one shared with Mexico, where – he explained – there are almost 100 blind transfer points and it is the largest.
“In the border cities, a series of criminal behaviors have developed, there is an increase in common crime such as scams and robberies, but one of the most worrying issues is child pornography and the trafficking of minors for prostitution on the side of Mexico”, he pointed out.
Source: Gestion
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