Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jan 2003
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2003 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Christopher Marquis

U.S. Lists Guatemala's Anti-Drug Cooperation As Inadequate

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 - The Bush administration has concluded that
Guatemala is deeply mired in corruption and no longer deserves to be
listed among allies of the United States in the fight against drug
trafficking, officials said today.

In a letter to Congress, President Bush will "decertify" Guatemala's
antidrug efforts but waive penalties because of the United States' own
vital interests, the officials said.

Although the move is mostly symbolic, it signals growing anger and
frustration on the part of the Bush administration toward the
government of President Alfonso Portillo. Mr. Portillo, who was
elected in a landslide in 1999, has largely failed to stablize his
government and curb corruption, undercutting cooperation with the
United States.

"We have gone to them repeatedly for a number of months and laid out
measures that must be taken to avoid this," an administration official
said. "They fell short of our expectations."

The Guatemalan Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for
comment today.

Since peace accords in 1996 brought nearly 30 years of civil war to an
end, Guatemala has become increasingly troubled by common crime,
murders of human rights activists and jurists, money laundering and
other forms of corruption. At the same time, American antidrug
officials say, the country has increasingly been used as a
transshipment point for Colombian cocaine and heroin heading for the
United States.

Administration officials say their law enforcement efforts are stymied
by the overall tumult, noting that since Mr. Portillo took office, he
has had nine different directors of the government's antidrug unit.

"This constant upheaval makes long-range planning for operations and
investigations nearly impossible and working relationships very
difficult," Paul E. Simons, the acting assistant secretary of state
for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said in
recent Congressional testimony.

The American officials are surprisingly candid in their criticism of
President Portillo and say they have canceled visas for many of his
associates because of corruption allegations.

"Narcotics trafficking, alien smuggling, car theft, money laundering
and organized crime in general are on the increase in Guatemala," Mr.
Simons said. "Some of the leaders of these activities have very close
ties to the president and regularly influence his decisions,
especially with respect to personnel nominations in the military and
the ministry of government."

Pressing for change, the administration helped arrange a trip for 11
influential Guatemalans, including the vice president, to attend a
seminar in Prague offered by Transparency International, a group
advocating clean government. Despite Washington's aid in creating an
anticorruption task force, no high-level figures have been indicted,
although there has been some prosecutions of municipal officials.

The judiciary is also compromised, officials say. In a case that
exasperated American officials in 2001, Judge Delmi CastaA eda
accepted thousands of dollars to dismiss a criminal case against
narcotics traffickers. The judge, who was observed driving the
defendants in her own car, lost her judgeship but was not prosecuted.

The general unreliability of the Guatemalan government has compelled
the Drug Enforcement Administration to shift its strategy, said Will
Glaspy, a spokesman for the agency. Instead of relying on local
prosecutions, American antidrug agents are concentrating on building
cases for extradition to the United States.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake