While the extraordinary levels of corruption in Guatemala’s criminal justice system have no parallel here at the moment, the excrescences in Guatemala City should be instructive to the Guyana Government which doggedly refuses to admit the extent of organized crime here even as the country is entering a potentially troublesome interregnum as the Jagdeo era meanders to an end and a new government is to be installed at general elections next year.
After three decades of bloody internal conflict had compromised law and order institutions, Guatemala sealed a ground-breaking agreement with the United Nations for the setting up of an International Commission against Impunity (CICIG) which began operating in September 2007 with a mandate to investigate the presence and activities of illegal armed groups and to recommend public policies and measures for eradicating such groups and preventing their re-emergence. A year and a half into its original two-year mandate, its chairman, Spanish judge, Carlos Castresana, had spoken hopefully of its mission averring “We are not to replace Guatemala’s democratic institutions, but to help build a democracy with the rule of law”.
Some of that sheen was dulled last week when Mr Castresana resigned around the same time that Guatemala’s Attorney General, Conrado Reyes was ousted after having been accused by CICIG of having ties to lawyers carrying out illegal international adoptions and collaborating with Mexican drug cartels.
At a press conference, Mr Castresana bemoaned the extent of corruption in the country and the impact this has had on the work of the commission and said it was impossible for him to continue doing his job when his counterparts protected criminals. Said the judge “There is criminal activity including drug trafficking, murders, contraband, people trafficking and (authorities) enable criminal activity by guaranteeing impunity… The country’s institutions are infiltrated”. He added “”We have to get rid of the corrupt public servants one by one. We have to get rid of people from the attorney general’s office, from the judiciary, from the interior ministry but this is scarcely the tip of the iceberg.”
Guatemala of course is a particularly intractable case because of the reign and entrenching of death squads during its decades-old civil conflict and now more so because it is a vital gateway for the drug empire that sweeps farther north into the US. Those two elements – killer squads and an insidious drug trade are well-established here and manifested in the insoluble and grotesque execution-style killings and the continuous passage and occasional interception of major drug shipments in northern ports. As night follows day it must be that large amounts of money are being tossed around here to buy cooperation and silence and where this isn’t possible bullets and other macabre means accomplish the task. The discovery of another suitcase laden with cocaine from Guyana at JFK in New York last week is firm evidence that the drug network and its militias are alive and well. This embarrassment followed one earlier this year where a pink suitcase stuffed with cocaine was allowed through the Timehri airport only to be snagged in New York. After weeks of investigation several arrests of airport employees were made leading the Ministry of Home Affairs to declare that a major gang had been busted. Clearly, there are multiple gangs at work.
The government prefers not to recognize the vibrancy of the drug trade here and continues with the feigned ignorance of the exploits of convicted drug trafficker Mr Roger Kham because he provided critical support to the crime fight during a period when organized and unorganized criminals wrought havoc.
Not having confronted the drug trade and its armed killers and being unbalanced by the removal of Mr Khan from the arena, the government’s complacency and incompetence have heightened the risk to the country and such risk can only deepen and be leveraged in the period upcoming.
In an urgent call to action a few days, Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime told Reuters that governments must dismantle markets supplied by what he described as the global “superpower” of organized criminals trafficking drugs, people, arms and counterfeit goods. Mr Costa said “Other criminals will fill the void as long as there is money to be made. Therefore, in order to fight more effectively organized crime, we must shift focus from disrupting the mafias to disrupting their markets… We must also crack down on the accomplices of crime, like the army of white-collar criminals — lawyers, accountants, realtors and bankers — who cover them up and launder their proceeds,” Mr Costa said. It is a dire assessment for countries like Guyana with little influence on the US policy towards its domestic market for drugs but one that nevertheless requires grappling with. How can Guyana take on the crime mafias with the limited resources at its disposal? Mr Costa also lamented the lack of cooperation among countries in the fight against organized crime and pointed to the need to elevate action to extirpate corruption in government and the private sector which enables the criminals to have a free hand. The latter is relevant to Guyana where even though prosecutions for corruption are virtually non-existent it is broadly accepted the scourge is severe.
So what is Guyana to do so as not to be overrun by the increased encroaching of the trade from the west in its airspace, over its borders and on its waters? It desperately needs a plan and every last resource to transform its law enforcement agencies into capable and professional forces. In particular, the police force which has over the years lurched from one crisis to another needs an extreme makeover so that it can begin to be respected in the eyes of society and be the protector of law and order. The killing two Mondays ago of schoolboy Kelvin Fraser showed how hopelessly astray the force is from its mission of service and how much work needs to be done.
Unfortunately, the government has blinded itself to this reality, so much so that President Jagdeo on Thursday at the birthday reception for Queen Elizabeth easily stood by the government’s unconvincing stand to obstruct UK security assistance to this country while it can ill-afford the outlays necessary and lacks the access to sufficient numbers of trained experts to see the reforms through. It is an irresponsible admixture of bluster and neglect of Guyana’s well-being in these very perilous times.
Minister Rohee has since also made it clear that Guyana would not be interested in taking up US Attorney General Holder’s offer of resident security advisors who would assist in combating organized crime.
The trend throughout the region and certainly in the crime hotspots of Jamaica and Trinidad is to accept the help given in good faith and which help has no risk of any kind to sovereignty or national pride. For example, Trinidad under PM Persad-Bissessar is considering the appointment of a Canadian as the Top Cop. It is the type of hard-nosed decision which recognizes the gravity of the internal situation stripped of calculations of political preservation and other inanities.
One of the primary responsibilities of any government is to provide a safe and secure environment for all of its citizens combined with the ability to investigate crimes and to enable the successful prosecution of those who commit them. The government has done a very poor job of this.
In the waning days of this administration it is not too late for President Jagdeo to come around to accepting that this government needs expert assistance to rein in crime. To pretend otherwise would be a breach of his oath to serve the people of this country.
