Word: godoy
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Experts say Guatemala is no longer a mere drug corridor, but rather an essential and highly lucrative pit stop on the road north. One Guatemalan columnist likened the country's new role to a "privateering port." Julio Godoy, former vice-minister of security in Guatemala's interior department, called Guatemala "one big warehouse" for drugs. More and more Mexicans with suspected drug links are turning up in Guatemala. "They're clearly here essentially to establish themselves and to take on rivals," says ambassador McFarland...
...series of weak, infiltrated governments have been unable or unwilling to reverse the tide. "People perceive a breakdown of authority and really the authorities are the traffickers," says ambassador McFarland. In areas of high drug activity, the population has little choice but to align itself with the traffickers, says Godoy, the former Guatemalan Interior Ministry official. Plus, in a country where some 80% of citizens live below the poverty line, traffickers pay well for cooperation. "If [a trafficker] asks a person to shine a light at a [clandestine] airstrip and they're going to pay more than that person...
...Godoy's initial assertion is correct, the bombing would mark a worrying escalation in the wave of drug related violence that has ravaged Mexico this year. Heavily armed cartels have carried out thousands of brutal killings, including mass beheadings and machine gun massacres of their rivals. They have also assassinated hundreds of police, soldiers and mayors. But they have never before staged mass-casualty bomb attacks targeting civilians in public spaces. "This is open terrorism against the civil population," said Ricardo Aleman, columnist for Mexico's El Universal newspaper. "It claims lives with the objective of sowing terror and sending...
...Godoy said Tuesday that officials in his Michoacan state had received threats warning of an Independence Night attack. But, he explained, state officials had expected the attack to come not in Morelia, but in one of the state's other cities such as the busy coastal port of Lazaro Cardenas. The bombing came as the governor was ringing the bell in Morelia's colonial square, a tradition carried out across to Mexico to remember the launching of the war of independence against Spain in 1810. Witnesses reported that a bulky man in black threw a grenade-like object into...
...This is a brutal act against innocent people," Godoy said. "There were families and children who went to enjoy the shout for independence. Among them were the poorest people who have no other entertainment. This was a very cowardly act." Independence parades were canceled in the state on Tuesday, while thousands of soldiers poured into the city center. Explosive experts said they were still determining exactly what devices had caused the blast...