GUATEMALA: BLUE LANTERN RESPONSE FOR 05122616 AND

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001282

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR PM/DTCC- BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETTC KOMC GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA: BLUE LANTERN RESPONSE FOR 05122616 AND
050122547

REF: STATE 100396


1. (SBU) Summary: In response to reftel, PolMil Officer
researched the bona fides of the arms import company
Importador Aresco. The research included an on-site
inspection of Importador Aresco, interviews with the
company's owners, and records checks of both company and
owners with the Guatemala's Arms and Municions Control
Department (DECAM). As a result of the investigation Post
does not recommend approval of reftel licenses. End Summary.


2. (SBU) On September 30, PolMil Officer conducted an on-site
inspection of Importador Aresco located at 19 Calle 22-55,
Zona 10, Guatemala City, and interviewed the company's
owners. Both owners, Gustavo Arango and Carlos Enrique de
Jesus Lopez, were present and fully cooperative during the
interview. Importador Aresco SA is located in the back of a
wholesale computer supply company also owned by Arango.
Importador Aresco consists of a reinforced room used for
weapons storage and a small entry room containing an empty
desk, one chair, and a DECAM poster. There are no signs
publicizing the business, and PolMil Officer had to ask
directions from the private security guard posted at the
entrance to the property. To comply with local regulations
Importador Aresco SA does not share common ingress and egress
points with the much larger computer supply store that
occupies the same building, and thus is considered a separate
business, but the interview took place in the computer supply
store.


3. (SBU) According to Arango, he started the computer
wholesale business in 1999 and Importador Aresco in 2004.
Arango stated that just like his computer wholesale business,
his business model for Importador Aresco is the importation
and wholesale of weapons to other vendors. Neither of his
businesses has a sales floor, show room, or conducts
advertising. To date Importador Aresco has imported handguns
from Argentina in addition to 100 handguns and 175 .22 rifles
from the United States. The interview was open and candid
and PolMil Officer was granted access to the company's
records and facility. Upon examination of the
DECAM-certified weapon inventory log it became apparent that
Importador Aresco sold 137 .22 caliber rifles (including the
entire last shipment of 100) to arms dealer Leonel Alvarez,
who operates three gun stores in the Department of
Huehuetenango. The remainder of the .22 caliber rifles were
sold to other arms dealers, or in some cases to arms dealers
from remote departments serving as middle men for
pre-identified private customers.


4. (SBU) Importador Aresco's books were in good order, but
useless from an end-user perspective as the actual end
recipients of the arms are not listed. To determine the bona
fides of the majority of the actual recipients PolMil Officer
would need to inspect the records of the three arms companies
owned by Alvarez. In the course of other Blue Lantern
investigations PolMil Officer has noticed that it is not
uncommon for companies to sell a portion of weapons imported
under end user licenses to other arms dealers, but this is
the first company that as been approved for end user
licenses for the eplicit purpose of brokering the weapons to
other arms dealers. The business model followed by
Importador Aresco appears to be legal under Guatemalan law,
but these transactions greatly complicate efforts to
determine the actual end users. Of major concern is that
there is no local procedure in place to prevent an arms
dealer turned down for a State Department export license from
purchasing part or all of a weapons shipment imported by
Importador Aresco.
QImportador Aresco.


5. (SBU) Arango declined to name the potential buyers of the
200 rifles covered under the pending licenses, but downplayed
the possibility of selling them to Alvarez. His assertion
that he does not seek buyers until he has possession of the
weapons, and thus cannot provide the names of potential
buyers, does not jibe well with the speed with which prior
shipments were sold to other arms dealers according to
Importador Aresco records. While there is no evidence that
Importador Aresco is diverting weapons to companies or
individuals that have been turned down for export licenses by
the Department of State, the company's business model is a
cause for concern.


6. (SBU) Aresco describes his company as a "small scale
importer" and as a result his storage facilities are much
smaller than other arms dealers that have been inspected by
PolMil Officer. The weapons vault is constructed of thick
cinder block walls with an additional steel grate installed
on the one wall that is not reinforced. The vault has one
standard motion detector aimed at the steel grate, but motion

detectors are not built into the walls, ceiling, and floor to
detect vibrations. The vault does not contain gun safes
which means that weapons are simply stored on book shelves
constructed against one wall of the vault. The facility is
guarded 24-hours a day by one armed guard and the building's
alarm system includes 24-hour response from a private
security company. According to DECAM's Director, Colonel
David Barrientos, Importador Aresco's security precautions
meet DECAM's minimum standards, but the security of the
facility was well below the average toured by PolMil Officer.



7. (SBU) Comment: According to Barrientos, Importador Aresco
was cited in 2006 for minor record keeping infractions, but
is otherwise in good standing with DECAM. Barrientos stated
that Alvarez's three companies in Huuhuetenango have been
cited with minor records keeping infractions every year since
2003, as well as reporting the loss of handguns and
attempting to register a firearm in the name of a deceased
person. Barrientos stated that while Leonel Alvarez's
companies have had regular problems with DECAM, his licenses
have never been suspended.


8. (SBU) Importador Aresco is a small scale arms wholesale
company that although technically a separate business is a
branch of the principle owner's computer supply wholesale
enterprise. Importador Aresco is in good standing with DECAM
and its weapons storage area meets minimum local standards.
However, Importador Aresco has no sales room and has no plans
to begin marketing handguns to the general public, but rather
sells the weapons in bulk to other gun dealers. Importador
Aresco declined to provide information on the actual weapons
dealers who will be responsible for the end user sale of the
requested weapons, so Post was unable to conduct research the
companies that would eventually conduct the end user
transfer. As the admitted purpose of import licenses
05122616 or 050122547 is to transfer them in bulk to un-named
weapons dealers Post cannot recommend approve of the reftel
import licenses.


McFarland