GUATEMALA: BERGER GRAPPLING WITH CRIME, CORRUPTION

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06702208
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: October 25, 2017
• Case Number: F-2016-02207
• Publication Date: March 12, 2007

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Published online on 12 March 2007
Guatemala: Berger Grappling With Crime, Corruption
Office of Asian Pacific, Latin American, and African Analysis
President Berger is still struggling with soaring crime and entrenched
corruption with less than a year left in office, but he has made progress on
economic reform. The homicide rate was up by 1D percent last year and is
second in the hemisphere only to Fl Salvador's. Politically motivated violence,
including assassinations of political party activists, a national legislator, and a
provincial governor in which organized crime and narcotraffickers are the primary
suspects, has added to the climate of insecurity,
� Persistent income inequality and poverty are fueling the violence even though
the economy has grown steadily. Berger has led efforts to open markets,
improve the business climate, and increase spending on health and education.
2001 02 03 04 05 06 0
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� Berger believes the US�Central America Free Trade Agreement has helped the economy and probably would
welcome legal status in the US for Guatemalan migrants, increased counternarcotics assistance, and Millennium
Challenge Corporation funding to further alleviate poverty
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Entrenched corruption in law enforcement exacerbates the crime problem, and the common perception is that the
government is losing the war on crime Berger has worked hard to curtail crime and (b)(1)
corruption by ordering two-thirds of the military to patrol with local police, gaining legislative approval for a robust organized
crime law, and restructuring the National Police.
Vice President Stein publicly admits the police force is riddled with corruption, and last month four policemen, including
the head of an organized crime unit, were accused of murdering three Salvadoran deputies to the Central American
Parliament. Unidentified assailants later killed those officers while they were detained in a maximum-security pri(b)(i )
prompting the Interior Minister, National Police Chief, and Prisons Director to resign. (b)(3)
� The President of the Congress in January appointed two former military officers to key security positions in that body
despite allegations they had been involved in narcotrafficking and embezzlement
Crime will be a prominent issue in the presidential election in September, and entrenched
are seeking influence with presidential candidates. A senior campaign adviser to
Alvaro Colonn, is concerned that some of Colom's supporters have ties to narcotics traffickers
organized crime elements
the frontrunner, center-left candidate
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� Center-right candidate Otto Perez Molina�a retired Army general and currently the second-most-popular
aligning himself with a group of military officers reputedly involved in organized crime and narcotics trafficking,
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candidate�is
� The presidential
style populist
contenders range from the center-left
in the the
to probusiness in ideology
will favor personalities who
at this point there is
appear tough on crime.
no Chavez-
race�but election probably
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Produced By: CIA Product Type: World Intelligence Review Document Number: WIRe031207-03
Publication Date: 12 Mar 2007
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