SECURITY: BAD AND GETTING WORSE IN QUETZALTENANGO

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUATEMALA 000527

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/02/2019
TAGS: KCRM KJUS PGOV SOCI PHUM GT
SUBJECT: SECURITY: BAD AND GETTING WORSE IN QUETZALTENANGO

REF: GUATEMALA 457

Classified By: Political Officer George Matthews for reasons 1.4 b & d


1. (U) SUMMARY. A recent trip by Emboffs to Quetzaltenango,
in western Guatemala, found widespread concern over
increasing insecurity, a significant lack of confidence in
the ability of the national police (PNC) to address the
issue, and a belief that Guatemala City is pushing its
problems to the area. Leaders and community activists also
expressed concern that a slowing economy and a drop in
remittances from the U.S. would lead to an increase in crime.
While none noted any significant problem with
narcotrafficking in Xela or other cities in the department of
Quetzaltenango, some expressed concern about reports of
narcotrafficking activity in Coatepeque, a town near the
Mexican border. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) On May 5 and 6, Emboffs traveled to Quetzaltenango
(Xela) in the western highlands and met with government
officials and representatives of the private sector, civil
society and academics, along with a local gun store owner.
(see reftel.)

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View from Local Politicians
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3. (C) Mayor Jorge Rolando "Mito" Barrientos works from a
large corner office in the Xela municipal center, an ornate
19th century building with a football field-sized central
courtyard. Barrientos, a member of the GANA political party,
asserted that despite problems with crime and violence Xela
is still far safer than Guatemala City or many other parts of
the country. He acknowledged that gang activity was a
problem, but not a significant one. Barrientos estimated
that there are six to eight local gangs operating in Xela,
with 30 to 50 members in each gang. However, he said there
has been a noticeable increase in both organized crime and
gang activity over the past year, which Barrientos attributed
to a crackdown on criminal elements in Guatemala City.
(NOTE: The embassy is not aware of any particular crackdown
or offensive by the PNC or military against criminals in
Guatemala City over the past year. END NOTE) He believes
the PNC is under-staffed, under-funded and under-equipped to
properly do their job in his city. According to the local
Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (PDH),there are only 462 PNC
agents in the entire department of Quetzaltenango. The
department has a population of over 620,000, which averages
about one agent for every 1,350 residents. Barrientos said
he is not aware of significant narcotrafficking activity in
Xela. The most significant drug problem in his city revolves
around young people, mostly college students, using and
selling illicit substances.


4. (C) Mayra Rivera, Chief Deputy to the governor, works out
of a 180-year building that was the former home of a coffee
baron. Rivera is a career civil servant and has worked for
several governors in the last 16 years. She echoed many of
Barrientos' comments, saying the security situation was not
as bad in Quetzaltenango as in other departments, but that it
had gotten noticeably worse over the past year. She also
attributed much of the increase in crime to criminal
organizations being pushed out of Guatemala City. Rivera
also believed that migrants from other parts of Central
America, especially El Salvador, were making the security
situation worse. Like Barrientos, she lacked confidence in
Qsituation worse. Like Barrientos, she lacked confidence in
the local PNC, which reports directly to the department's
governor, but which she said is largely controlled from
Guatemala City. Rivera estimated that at least 20 percent of
local PNC agents are engaged in some form of corruption.
However, she said that she has seen no evidence that they are
involved in more serious crimes, such as murder-for-hire or
kidnapping, as in other departments. Rivera also said that
she is not aware of a significant problem with
narcotraffickers in the department of Quetzaltenango.
However, she did note some concern about Coatepeque, a town
in the western part of the department about 30 miles from the
Mexican border. Rivera said she had heard reports that
Mexican narcotraffickers were beginning to operate in the
area.

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View from the Human Rights Office
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5. (SBU) Julio Cesar Fernandez, Deputy Chief of the local PDH
office, said his 12-person office handles about 15 clients a
day, and much of the case work involves victims of domestic
violence. However, Fernandez said, over the past year, PDH
has seen an increase in murders, assaults and robberies
aboard public buses, threats against judges and prosecutors,
demonstrations over deteriorating social conditions, and acts
of vigilante justice. Fernandez said he is aware of at least
seven instances where mobs badly beat or burned individuals
suspected of committing a crime. Fernandez said citizens,
especially in rural communities, were losing faith in state
institutions and taking justice into their own hands.
Fernandez also believes there is a serious problem with
corruption in the PNC, and had been told that senior PNC
commissioners can earn more than Q50,000 (USD 6,500) per
month working for organized crime. On average, PNC
commissioners earn a salary of Q7,600 (USD 1,000) per month.
Fernandez and his staff said they have received no threats
this year, but did have a bull's skull and bag of intestines
thrown over the wall of their building last year. Fernandez
attributed the lack of threats to the fact that the office
provides mainly assistance to victims of domestic violence,
and so does not pose a threat to organized crime.

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View from the Private Sector
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6. (SBU) The president of Xela's Chamber of Commerce, Manolo
Armando Veliz, runs a real estate business, distributes food,
liquor and other types of products to bars and restaurants,
and owns a local internet service provider. In total, about
40 people work for him at his various businesses. Veliz has
also seen an increase in crime over the past year to
year-and-a-half. He noted that all types of criminal
activity are on the rise, and attributed this to both
increased pressure on organized crime and gangs in Guatemala
City, which pushed them to Xela, and on the deteriorating
economic climate. In particular, Veliz noted the drop in
remittances coming into the area as a key factor pushing up
the poverty rate, which is leading to an increase in crime.
One example, noted Chamber of Commerce manager Alvaro Haroldo
Solis, is the rise in street prostitution. Solis said it was
very unusual to see prostitutes in the street a year ago, but
it is becoming increasingly common. Veliz said local
merchants are also increasingly the targets of kidnapping and
extortion rings, and that the business community is spending
more on security. Veliz and Solis estimate that an average
medium-size business spends about USD 1,300 per month on
salaries for three armed guards and an electronic alarm
system. Neither displayed any faith in the ability of the
PNC to protect their businesses. They claimed that low-level
corruption was widespread, and that PNC agents expect to
receive free cases of beer or small presents in exchange for
promises of increased protection.

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View from the Indigenous Community
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7. (SBU) Jordan Rodas, a lawyer and an indigenous leader,
narrowly lost the race for mayor in 2007. Rodas came in
second to Jorge Barrientos. He is now contemplating another
run for mayor, or possibly a congressional seat. Rodas
believes it is difficult, if not impossible, to harness the
indigenous community into an effective political force. He
Qindigenous community into an effective political force. He
said there are too many cultural differences among the
various indigenous groups for them to be a unified force.
Rodas estimated that 65 percent of the population of the
department is indigenous and highly dependent on remittances,
especially in the rural areas. He said that while indigenous
people have not been persecuted based on their indigenous
status they have been victimized by the general increase in
lawlessness over the past year. He said indigenous people
are doing particularly well in the city of Xela, where they
own a number of small and medium-sized businesses. However,
he said indigenous people in rural areas, who tend to be very
poor, suffer from extremely high rates of alcoholism and drug
abuse. Rodas said he has very little confidence in the
institutions of state. His brother disappeared during the
internal conflict (1960-1996),and so Rodas is particularly
wary of the military. He also believes the PNC and judiciary
are rife with corruption.


8. (U) Amparo Monzon is a young woman working for Education
USA, an educational advisory center supported by the Embassy
and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) that
is housed at the Xela branch of the Guatemalan-American
Institute (IGA),a bi-national center. Monzon's job is to
help Guatemalan students find scholarships for undergraduate
and graduate studies in the United States. Monzon says her
job is an uphill battle, noting that Guatemala is among the
worst countries in Latin America in terms of investment in
education. She said public school teachers are poorly paid,
averaging around USD 300 a month, which results in educators
who have little interest in teaching. Poor teachers,
combined with extreme poverty in many of the rural areas of
the department, lead to extremely high drop out rates among
students. Monzon estimates that 75 percent of indigenous
students never reach high school. Monzon's job is made even
more difficult by the deteriorating security situation. She
frequently has to travel by public bus to give presentations
to students and says she is scared every time. She also
believes that it's not safe for her, as a woman, to walk the
streets of Xela at night. Monzon attributes the rise in
crime to the recent influx of gang members from El Salvador
fleeing a government crackdown there. She says she is even
starting to see gang activity in some of the very small
communities she visits.


9. (U) COMMENT: Everyone we spoke with during our visit to
Quetzaltenango agreed that the security situation had grown
worse over the last year. Moreover, given the current
economic climate and Quetzaltenango's distance from Guatemala
City, there was no sense of optimism among those we spoke
with that the area could expect significantly more resources
from the national government to address these problems.
Mayor Barrientos and the representatives of the Chamber of
Commerce believe the best solution to resolving many of the
area's problems is private investment, however, because of
the global recession, they also believe it may be well over a
year before they can expect any increase in economic
activity. In the meantime, there is sense that residents of
Xela will make do with what they have. As Amparo Monzon from
IGA said, "We're a poor country. We're used to having to
struggle."
McFarland