Pubdate: Sun, 14 Sep 2003
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2003 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Will Weissert, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Guatemala
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/narcotics

GUATEMALA BECOMES MAJOR COCAINE PIPELINE

LOS AMATES, Guatemala -- Starting as a small-time smuggler deep in the
countryside, a trucking company boss has become Central America's
most-wanted drug suspect, using platoons of pilots, fishermen and
truck drivers to turn Guatemala's sliver of Caribbean coast into a
major pipeline for Colombian cocaine. U.S. and Guatemalan officials
say Otto Herrera succeeded in building a small but powerful smuggling
gang because Guatemala's government did little in recent years to stop
the drug trade.

Now, facing increasing pressure from Washington, Guatemalan President
Alfonso Portillo is taking steps to crack down on drug smugglers. But
even one of the country's top drug investigators acknowledges more
needs to be done.

"Guatemala was a paradise for them. There was total freedom, a green
light for narcos for three full years," said Jorge Paredes, national
director of anti-drug investigations. "The government of Guatemala
lost its will to attack the problem."

The problem got so bad after Portillo took office at the beginning of
2000 that President Bush dropped Guatemala last January from America's
list of allies in the counter-narcotics effort, citing corruption that
reached to the highest level of government.

Guatemala long has been a transit point for shipping narcotics to
Mexico and the United States. But with Mexican President Vicente Fox
increasing efforts to cripple his country's narcotics trade, Colombian
smugglers began working more closely with Guatemalan gangs that
collect, store and prepare drugs, said a U.S. State Department
official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"They were making drug flights in broad daylight and in fairly
developed areas," the official said.

Successful drug raids in other parts of Central America -- including
El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua -- made Guatemala an
even more popular route for narcotics flowing from South America's
jungles to U.S. streets. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says
half of the 400 tons of cocaine smuggled through Central America each
year passes through Guatemala.

Herrera, the alleged drug lord, has disappeared since the crackdown
began. In April, authorities stormed a house they said was owned by
one of his associates in an upscale Guatemala City neighborhood and
discovered $14.4 million in cash.

Los Amates, a sun-scorched town of 70,000 people, is home to Herrera's
trucking company and is the center of his alleged drug operation.

In the heart of banana-growing country, the town's muddy streets are
clogged with new sports cars. Its ultramodern banks seem more suited
for a first-world financial district than a town with just two
restaurants.

Authorities say the gang's leaders have moved elsewhere, but dozens of
farmers-turned-smugglers still live in heavily guarded ranches near
the town.

Mayor Julio Humberto Alvarez said he often straps three pistols to his
waist and travels with a pack of neighbors for protection. He agreed
to speak about drug trafficking in Los Amates but only in an interview
at a highway restaurant two hours away.

He said drug-related violence often kills up to 25 people a month in
Los Amates.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin