Guatemala to ask Bush for drug fight aid

[Joanne98]

March 5, 2007, 2:28PM
Guatemala to ask Bush for drug fight aid


By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala knows it is losing the battle against drug trafficking — its police, military and justice system are beholden to traffickers who use the country as a way station for Colombian drug shipments to the U.S.

In a case that has laid bare the extent of corruption in the Central American nation, FBI agents are trying to help discover who ordered the murders of three Salvadoran politicians and the Guatemalan police officers who said they were told to kill them.

The killings and apparent cover-up has exposed the seemingly insurmountable challenges President Oscar Berger faces as he tries to regain control of a defiant and even criminal police force.

"We were shocked by the brutality of the killings, but it was really no surprise to us that organized crime has infiltrated the government," Vice President Eduardo Stein said.

FBI officials met with Guatemalan and Salvadoran authorities last week to discuss the case of the three slain politicians and to offer the help of six forensic scientists, who are to arrive this week. They "will help us in every aspect of the investigation, from crime scene evidence collection to the tests that we need to run," lead prosecutor Alvaro Matus said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4603460.html

Message to Guatemala: NO!

[Judi Lynn]

1. Absolutely no. This is outrageous. Bush can't make up for the respect he has lost

by bribing right-wing leaders in countries stomped flat by prior Reagan-supported and encouraged death squads.

These right-wing pResidents are making this entire country look filthy.

From the article, some very interesting details:

Guatemalan authorities argue that seizures are not a good measure of their anti-drug efforts because in the past, traffickers have offered corrupt authorities huge amounts of cocaine to stage busts.

Guatemala has tried to change that by purging police forces — including its elite anti-narcotics unit. In 2005, the group's director, Adan Castillo, was arrested in Virginia for conspiring to import cocaine to the U.S. and his 401 agents were given drug and lie detectors tests. Only 50 passed.

Part of the problem is a culture of violence, fueled in part by youth gangs that flourished here after their members were deported from Los Angeles, and a brutal civil war that ended 10 years ago and claimed more than 200,000 lives, mostly civilian. Many allege the death squads during the nearly four-decade conflict live on, inside the nation's police forces.

National Police director Erwin Sperissen says anti-corruption efforts are further complicated because judges often reinstate police officers who have been fired, creating a revolving door of impunity.

In an attempt to counteract that, Guatemala and the United Nations are working to create an International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, an independent office that would use foreign investigators to investigate organized crime and police agencies corrupted by criminal organizations. Guatamala's Congress must still approve the U.S.-backed proposal.

At the U.S. government's request, the Guatemalan Congress has passed laws to strengthen law enforcement's investigative abilities, such as allowing undercover agents and phone taps. Guatemala's Interior Ministry has yet to implement the measures, however.
(snip/)

So the exalted _Bush solution is to rip away THEIR freedoms, like ours, only in this case it's not because of terrorism, it's because they present a "drug" threat to the United States.

Any excuse _Bush offers apparently is going to saluted, and celebrated. After all, he IS the great American right-wing hope, no matter how far down he drags the country, and the poorer, helpless ones, as well.

[Joanne98]

2. This looks like a cover for a proxy war to me....

Using the phoney war on drugs to arm Colombia as a threat to Chavez. We need to put pressure on the Dems to stop this shit. But we can forget getting any help from Hillary. She blasted Chavez in a speech today.