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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 003270

SUBJECT: GUATEMALA/MEXICO BORDER ISSUES, STAFFDEL

MEACHAM

REF: MEXICO 9362

¶1. Summary: SFRC Staffdel Meacham visited

Guatemala to discuss a broader North American
security architecture and Guatemala's role as the
southern border state of that area. Based on
meetings with the country team, Ministry of Foreign
Relations, Migration, and the Ministry of Defense,
Staffdel Meacham and embassy staff undertook a
broader review of the current role of Guatemala as
a "buffer" between Central/South America and the
NAFTA space and how that role can be expanded
to improve U.S. security. End Summary.

¶2. Following his trip to Mexico (reftel), Senate

Foreign Relations Committee Latin American
specialist Carl Meacham visited Guatemala December
9-11 as part of a study on common security measures
with the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Unlike
relationships with North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) partners, no formal security
arrangements exist with Central American nations.
Guatemalan interlocutors stressed that Guatemala
played a significant role in Mexican border
security and, by extension, that of all of North
America. A senior Ministry of Defense official
noted that the length of the Mexico-Guatemala
border and the terrain which it traverses make a
strictly defensive posture by Mexican security
agencies untenable. A senior Immigration
official added that security demands increased
cooperation both between the relevant security
agencies in Guatemala and between those agencies
and their Mexican and United States counterparts.

¶3. In particular, the visit to a Guatemala/Mexico

border crossing point illustrated the openness of
Mexico's southern border. In open view of the two
governments' officials, goods and people were
transported by raft across the river in a highly-
organized and heavily-used pattern. Officials on
both sides of the border told us that they had no
formal information-sharing practices and little
official or unofficial contact.

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People, Practices, and Equipment
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¶4. All GOG representatives stressed the lack of

resources to combat smuggling of persons and goods
into and through Guatemalan territory, specifically
citing the lack of transportation and
communications equipment. Nonetheless, upon
further discussion, each GOG representative noted
that human capital was the most critical component
to assure border security. Each service --
including Immigration, the armed forces, and the
National Civilian Police (PNC) -- labors under the
task of recruiting and retraining quality employees
to undertake their basic missions and to combat
corruption within their ranks. Each of these
services need resources to expand recruitment and
training in order to increase the number and the
efficacy of their operations.

¶5. In addition to the need to expand the

operations of the different services, GOG
representatives noted the need to increase
cooperation between the services, and between the
operational services and the judicial system.
According to these representatives, Immigration and
the PNC currently only focus on immediate cases at
hand. They are not trained to interview and
investigate in a manner that could obtain useful
evidence for prosecution by the Attorney General's
office, nor are they trained to develop
intelligence to attack organized crime on a
systemic level. One representative specifically
noted the lack of wiretap authority to generate
intelligence.

¶6. The previously mentioned transportation and

communications equipment is critical to the
operational aspects of border security (Guatemala
has only one helicopter and five pick-up trucks to
patrol the entire border with Mexico). In
addition, Guatemala's Immigration Service lacks the
equipment to keep accurate and retrievable records.
Computers and database archives are particularly
necessary in order to manage formal migration. An
illustration of the equipment needs is to be seen
in deportations of Central Americans from the U.S.
Upon arrival in Guatemala, no photographic or
biometric information is collected that could be
used either to prevent their reentry into the U.S.
or to aid future law enforcement efforts locally.

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Vetting Human Assets, Reorientation of Military
-------------------------------------------------

¶7. Several of the GOG interlocutors stressed the

need to maximize regional security by developing
specific vetted cadres within the relevant
services. Furthermore, they noted, many of the
relevant tasks can currently only be undertaken by
the Guatemalan armed forces. Rather than a
military expansion -- precisely the opposite of the
current government's objectives -- they discussed a
possible reorientation of its missions and
priorities, and inquired about U.S.-funded assets
to help achieve them. That the armed forces
currently join patrols with the PNC in certain
high-crime areas is an example of the reorientation
of the standard military mission.

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Comment
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¶8. In the immediate term, the NAFTA partners need

to engage Central America in general and Guatemala
in particular to institutionalize border security
arrangements, particularly between the specific
agencies operating border control points. As a
valuable buffer zone, it is in the United States'
national interest to help Guatemalan security
agencies develop human capacity to improve border
security, in addition to the provision of
transportation, communications, and information
systems equipment such as biometric recording,
database archives, and wiretap equipment (should
wiretap authority be granted legally). In the
longer term, we need to continue our MPP objectives
of developing a liberal democratic society,
including respect for the rule of law and an end of
impunity in regard to corruption.

¶9. Meacham did not have the opportunity to clear

this message before departing Guatemala.

HAMILTON

(Edited and reformatted by Andres for ease of

reading.)