Guatemalan Gangs Infiltrate Canada and U.S.
Failing States Troubles Spill into Neighbouring Countries
May 27, 2009
According to Brad Knickerbocker, writing in The Christian Science Monitor (May 16, 2006) there’s no accurate count of how many illegal immigrants are living in the United States. “Depending on the source,” he wrote, “the numbers range widely - from about 7 million up to 20 million or more.” Probably about three quarters of these people have come from Central America. And, why wouldn’t they?
Failing-state markers are seen everywhere:
- Vast gaps between the few rich and the multitudes of poor;
- Government corruption on an epic scale;
- Lack of trust in public institutions;
- Human rights violations; and,
- Deteriorating public services.
Guatemala Becoming a Failed State
At least half the population of Guatemala lives in poverty and governments have proven powerless or unwilling to do anything about this. There has been a horrible increase in violence in recent years. In 2006, there were more than 6,000 murders. (Compare this with Canada, which has three times the population and around 600 murders a year.)
And, if criminal acts come into the life of the average person, there’s not a lot of point to calling nine-one-one. “The Guatemalan police,” wrote the Fund for Peace in a 2007 report, “are responsible for most unlawful killings in the country, commit kidnappings in collusion with organized crime, torture suspects, and are highly corrupt.”
According to the United Nations, just two percent of crimes in the country are solved.
Cocaine Trade Fuels Gang Violence
It’s estimated that between 60 percent and 90 percent of the cocaine heading for the U.S. market passes through Guatemala. Springing from this trade are a couple of the world’s most vicious gangs – Mara 18 and Mara Salvatruchas.
Their activities have spread to neighbouring Honduras and El Salvador. They also have deep roots in California’s immigrant communities and they have started showing up in Canada.
The gangs make money mostly by setting up extortion rackets. Home owners, bus drivers, store keepers, and many others are forced to pay protection money. On January 7, 2008 Gary Mason reported in The Globe and Mail, “Gangs have even been known to levy ‘rape taxes’ on the parents of young girls. The monthly payoffs are made to ensure the safety of their child.”
Crime Contaminates Guatemalan Politics
It’s no only street hoods and drug dealers who are dying. On May 10, 2009 Rodrigo Rosenberg was gunned down. Mr. Rosenberg was a Harvard-educated lawyer who made a video just four days before his death. In the tape he says, “If you are watching this message it is because I have been murdered by President Álvaro Colom…”
According to a report in The Economist (May 21, 2009) Mr. Rosenberg claims in his posthumous testimony that his murder would be because of his connection to Khalil Musa. Mr. Musa was offered a seat on the board of a partly state-owned bank.
The Economist picks up the story in its article “An Indictment from the Grave”: “The proposal was then withdrawn, Mr. Rosenberg claimed, out of fear that Mr. Musa would reveal rampant corruption at the bank. It was to keep this episode quiet that Mr. Musa and his daughter were murdered last month, according to Mr. Rosenberg, who feared that for the same reason he would be next.”
The Economist quotes Nineth Montenegro, a human-rights campaigner and congresswoman as saying “You have to join up with the mafias to be a successful politician in Guatemala.”
And, adds that “56 politicians or party activists were killed during the 2007 presidential campaign.”
None of Mr. Rosenberg’s claims have been corroborated but the allegations are putting pressure on an already fragile state.
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