The lost border in the jungle
The dictionary definition of the Spanish word “selva” is not just limited to “jungle,” but also encompasses confusion, conundrum. Those terms also define the Guatemalan department of Petén. The territory shares more than half of its border with Mexico, and practically the entire border with Belize. The jungle occupies the majority of this territory. Since 1998, the US Drug Enforcement Administration has considered it to be a key corridor for drug smuggling. Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán came through here, and massacred members of the Los Zetas syndicate. If you ask who is in charge now in that 2.2-million-hectare jungle, you’ll get timid responses. But a journey through this immense area allows you to understand how, for years, the main suspects have been “nobodies” in this place
