Drug traffickers have stranglehold on Guatemala, says top prosecutor

When Carlos Castresana suddenly stepped down last year from the UN International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, he told reporters that he was throwing in the towel because he could no longer lead the fight against criminal groups that had infiltrated the government and who were making his job impossible.

Privately, Castresana painted an even bleaker picture of Guatemala in private meetings he held with diplomats at the US Embassy before his resignation. Drug traffickers control 60 percent of the Central American nation, most of which are Mexican cartels who recruit members of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, and pay off law enforcement officers and the judiciary, he reported.

"If Guatemala goes, then Honduras and El Salvador will also fall"

Colom's own circle tried to derail laws designed to prevent impunity

The frequent talks between the Spanish-born prosecutor, the US ambassador and other diplomats are detailed in a series of cables released by WikiLeaks and obtained by EL PAÍS. Despite Castresana's recognition of President Álvaro Colom's goodwill, the correspondence shows a nation that is institutionally weak and vulnerable to infiltration by organized crime in government.

Castresana served as head of the UN panel, known by its Spanish acronym as CICIG, between 2007 and last June, when he returned to Spain and accepted a post at the Supreme Court.

The Mexican cartels' influence, especially that of Los Zetas, is so extensive that at Christmas the Guatemalan government declared a state of siege in the Alta Verapaz province to combat traffickers who are armed with "an impressive arsenal," as Defense Minister David Munguia put it. In a 2009 visit by Assistant US Secretary of State Julissa Reynoso, Castresana told the US diplomat "that if Guatemala becomes a narco-state, El Salvador and Honduras will fall immediately thereafter."

When US Ambassador Stephen McFarland asked Castresana about seeking collaboration with Mexican law enforcement authorities in the fight against Los Zetas, who control the larger departments in Guatemala, the Spanish prosecutor said he didn't trust them. "Castresana lamented that the chances of compromising operational integrity are too great in dealing directly with Mexican authorities," McFarland wrote in a December 24, 2009 cable.

The cables support Castresana's affirmation from an EL PAÍS interview last October that "there was a plot to kill me."

In Guatemala, he was constantly accompanied by a contingent of 16 bodyguards. But Castresana found himself involved in a bitter clash with then-Attorney General Juan Carlos Florido - ousted in 2009 - when he tried to pursue influential people in a nation where as many as 98 percent of crimes go unpunished. "Castresana said that law enforcement in Guatemala is essentially non existent and CICIG is in a sense doing an autopsy of collapsed institutions," reads one cable dated May 16, 2008.

The biggest fish reeled in by CICIG was former President Alfonso Portillo, who had been wanted for embezzling millions while he served from 2000-2004. The former leader, who was also indicted in New York on money laundering charges, was arrested on January 26, 2010 in a joint operation between the CICIG, navy, National Police, the Attorney General and US helicopters as he was preparing to escape to Belize.

"Portillo's state-funded bodyguard had nearly spirited him to safety, but a source close to Portillo led CICIG and police to him," reads a 2010 cable. "Portillo likely would have been captured earlier were it not for a leak(s) from a state source, though it was not clear whether the leak came from, Castresana said."

Following the arrest, the CICIG told Portillo he had the option of accepting an expedited proceeding that would lead to his quick extradition to safety in the United States where he would have to face charges. But the former president refused and said he preferred to face justice in Guatemala. He is currently on trial in Guatemala City.

"Castresana said Portillo's life could be at risk if he chooses to remain in Guatemala," reads the cable. "A powerful group of former senior military officers known collectively as 'The Brotherhood' ('La Cofradía,' suspected of narcotrafficking and other crimes), who colluded with then-President Portillo to embezzle millions from the state, might seek to murder him in order to ensure he does not collaborate with Guatemalan or US authorities."

The cables also outlined attempts by some members of Colom's own circle to derail laws designed against impunity. Two of the most important pieces of legislation - one regarding witness cooperation and plea bargaining, and another to bring in tighter security measures for judges and courts trying high-profile cases - were finally signed by Colom in September 2009, but not until Castresana and US Ambassador McFarland had convinced the hesitant president to do so.

Carlos Larios Ochaita, the president's general counsel, was opposed to the two bills, leading McFarland to note that while he served as Supreme Court president in 2003 Larios "previously opposed legal reforms which would improve transparency and threaten organized crime."