Monday, May 21, 2012

Prosecutors and Police Arrested in Guatemala

From Hispanically Speaking News
Three Guatemalan prosecutors and four police officers were arrested Friday on suspicion of ties to drug trafficking, the country’s interior minister said.
The suspects “facilitated” the operations of a group that smuggled in precursor chemicals used to make synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, Mauricio Lopez told a press conference in the capital.
He said the prosecutors and cops ensured that chemical shipments from Asia entered Guatemala undetected and made it safely to clandestine drug labs.
The arrests followed an investigation by the Interior Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office based on intelligence information, Lopez said.
The suspects are charged with criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Guatemalan security forces have seized more than 300,000 gallons of drug precursors so far this year and arrested a score of people in connection with those operations.
Obviously things aren't entirely rosy in Guatemala, but it was only about five years ago that one never heard stories like this. Maybe it's the optimist in me that says CICIG and the Colom and Perez administrations are doing better than their predecessors.