STATUS OF GUATEMALAN COUNTER-NARCOTICS COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 GUATEMALA 001902

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/23/2013
TAGS: SNAR PREL KDEM PGOV KJUS KCOR KCRM GT
SUBJECT: STATUS OF GUATEMALAN COUNTER-NARCOTICS COOPERATION

REF: A. GUATEMALA 1679


B. GUATEMALA 1693

Classified By: Ambassador John Hamilton for reason 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: GOG cooperation in the war on drugs has had
several concrete successes in the past six months, and there
has been further progress since the June 30 Inter-Agency
meeting in which the Ambassador participated. A quick run
down on
our benchmarks: cocaine seizures have increased fourfold;
extraditions have resumed; more than $19 million in drug
profits have been seized; Guatemala's major trafficker is on
the run; five tons of cocaine evidence held by the courts has
been destroyed; an asset forfeiture law was passed by
Congress, and the courts have accelerated the sale of seized
assets; a counter-narcotics maritime agreement has been
signed and passed to Congress for ratification; and
regulations controlling precursor chemicals have been
officially published. Not all benchmarks have been fully
met, however. And the GOG is clearly not keen on
investigating a (non-drug) corruption case that may involve
President Portillo. Nonetheless, we believe a decision to
fully recertify Guatemala is warranted. We recommend
developing new benchmarks for evaluating the GOG's
counter-narcotics cooperation for the next year. End summary.


2. (C) Three years of steadily declining cooperation by the
GOG in the war on drugs came to an end in March when, as a
result of our decertification, the GOG put together an
inter-institutional team (including members of the executive,
judiciary, legislature and Attorney General's Office) to
provide concrete actions in response to our counter-narcotics
concerns. The inter-agency process in Washington identified
nine benchmarks that would be the measures by which
"recertification" would be considered. The GOG has dedicated
considerable energy and political capital to meeting each of
these benchmarks over the past six months. Several of the
benchmarks have been fully met; others have been
substantially met. Reftels outlined the status of compliance
with the benchmarks through the end of June. During the past
four weeks there have been several further advances,
especially in the areas of the bilateral counternarcotics
maritime agreement, SAIA institutional development,
police-prosecutor cooperation, asset forfeitures and
collaborative efforts to make seizures.


3. (C) Other areas have not seen the same level of successes.
The Attorney General's office is prosecuting a major scandal
of the Social Security Institute (IGSS) and removed the
ineffective money laundering prosecutor Lilly Chinchilla (at
our request),but has just named her to head the
anti-corruption prosecutor's office. While that office
focuses on official corruption cases, not narcotics cases,
the naming of Chinchilla to head that unit was a setback for
anti-corruption efforts in Guatemala. The Attorney General's
decision was widely viewed as aimed at protecting President
Portillo from potential prosecution in a corruption scandal
known locally as the Panama Case. Whether that case involves
drug money laundering is not clear.

--------------
PROGRESS SINCE THE JUNE 30 IAWG MEETING
--------------
-------------- --------------
BILATERAL COUNTER-NARCOTICS MARITIME AGREEMENT SIGNED AND
AWAITING RATIFICATION
-------------- --------------


4. (U) On June 19, Foreign Minister Edgar Gutierrez and the
Ambassador signed the bilateral counternarcotics maritime
agreement. The agreement had its first of three required
readings before Congress in early July, and was assigned to
the International Affairs Committee for review. The agreement
was approved by the committee on July 15 and returned to
Congress, where it will be considered in the next
extraordinary session. In committee it enjoyed the support
of all the major parties, and we do not anticipate
significant opposition to it when it is considered in
extraordinary session.

-------------- --------------
SAIA REGULATIONS AMENDED TO PROVIDE FOR PERIODIC POLYGRAPH
AND URINALYSIS TESTING
-------------- --------------


5. (U) The GOG provided us with the final copy of the
internal regulations for the anti-narcotics police (SAIA in
Spanish). The regulations were signed by the Director of the
National Police and placed into effect on June 25. The
regulations only provided for polygraph and urinalysis
testing to be conducted upon initial entry into the unit, and
not at irregular intervals throughout an officer's career as
we had recommended. The Ambassador raised this with the
Minister of Government, and NAS Director raised with the
director of the SAIA, and they amended the SAIA regulations
to include periodic retesting. The target is for testing
every six months, beginning in August. We will continue to
monitor the implementation of this initiative to evaluate its
overall effectiveness.

-------------- --------------
POLICE-PROSECUTOR NARCOACTIVITY TASK FORCE FORMING
-------------- --------------


6. (U) Per ref A, on June 17 the Attorney General and the
Minister of Government signed an agreement that commits the
two institutions to form combined task forces in the areas of
money laundering and narcoactivity. The agreement states
that these task forces were being formed as a result of the
success of the existing task force on anticorruption. We
have received a copy of the internal regulation for the
pre-selection and periodic retesting of personnel assigned to
the unit. This screening will include local polygraph and
urinalyses testing for involvement in corrupt activities and
the use of illicit substances. It will have the first ever
financial disclosure and periodic background investigation.
Though still in its developmental stages, this initiative
will be a model for other programs.

--------------
LIQUIDATION OF SEIZED ASSETS
--------------


7. (U) The Judicial Branch has begun auctioning off seized
aircraft. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the
chief of the judicial warehouse met with NAS Director to
explain the process for the sale of seized assets. The
legislation they are using is Decree 69-71, which was signed
in 1971. It was further amplified last November with
Agreement 81.002, which establishes a period of two months
for interested parties to claim seized property. This
agreement only affects those items in the warehouse that were
seized before January 1, 1999. Currently there is a list of
fourteen aircraft that are available for auction. The
aircraft were seized as far back as 1983. The judicial
warehouse is also auctioning off other items. It is estimated
that approximately 10% of all of the seized property was
derived from narcotrafficking activities.

-------------- --------------
ITINERANT JUDGES TO EXPEDITE WARRANT PROCESS AND MAKE IT
SECURE
-------------- --------------


8. (U) In an effort to expedite the issuance of search
warrants and prevent the release of sensitive law enforcement
information, the Supreme Court has agreed to name two judges
to serve as itinerant judges in the nationwide service of
warrants and arrests. The chief magistrate told us this week
that he now has the two judges identified, but that he was
awaiting the vehicles and assigned PNC personnel. The naming
of these judges will greatly enhance the ability of the
courts to move to any given location and conduct enforcement
activities with a minimum of detractors or loss of
information. Its will also increase the speed at which law
enforcement activities could be conducted.

--------------
SEIZURES RISING
--------------


9. (U) Between January 1 and July 24, 2003, the GOG seized
3,718 kilos of cocaine. Since March, JIATF)South has
reported 41 suspect air tracks. Although the Guatemalan
military has not responded to every event, they have
responded to every event they have been asked to by us. Given
communication limitations, often information does not reach
the Guatemalans with sufficient time to respond adequately.
They have however, developed a response plan, which includes
dedicating aircraft in the various parts of the country to
respond with the SAIA and Public Ministry to just such
events. Of those 41 reported events, the Guatemalans were
able to respond to ten. Two of these resulted in the largest
seizure this calendar year. Since the GOG improved its
response mechanisms, suspect tracks have diminished over
Guatemala. We are also seeing traffickers switching to
nighttime flights; to overflights of Guatemala directly into
Mexico; and to flights that include stops for random periods
of time in neighboring countries and which start up too close
to Guatemala to permit an opportune launch.


10. (U) Control of drug trafficking at the points of entry
(i.e. airports, land border crossings and seaports) remains
deficient, especially at the airport. In conjunction with
DEA, NAS and TAT at post, the GOG has targeted major
trafficker Otto Herrera, and has conducted important
disruption operations against his organization. Herrera
himself is on the run, after losing over $14 million in drug
proceeds seized by the GOG at one of his former safe houses.


--------------
COMMENT:
--------------

11. (C) A comment on seizures: According to CNC data,
Guatemala seized an estimated 5.6% of the cocaine moving
through, over or around Guatemala in 2002. Seizures in 2003
at mid-year stood at 150% of the total for 2002, thus
increasing the seizure rate by a significant but
indeterminate amount (since we have no data on illicit
narcotic flows for 2003). For purposes of comparison, CNC
estimates the USG seizure rate of cocaine entering the US at
only 12.2%. The two situations are not all together
comparable, however, in that Guatemala lacks an end-game
capability for overflights, whereas the U.S. does have an
end-game capability. Our point is that the relatively low
seizure rate here is not in and of itself a measure of
political will or the lack thereof.

12.(C) Further comment: If Guatemala is recertified, it is
critical that momentum be maintained by presenting the GOG
with new benchmarks that would represent our standard for
measuring continued cooperation for the next year. With a
new government assuming office in January, 2004, it will be
important to get movement on the new benchmarks started by
the current government so that time is not lost in the
transition. Post welcomes inter-agency views on priorities
for benchmarks for the coming year.
HAMILTON