Bloodshed in Guatemala as Cartels and Street Gangs Wage War
On December 19, 2010, Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom declared a state of siege in the northern province of Alta Verapaz in an effort to curb the rapidly growing influence of the Zetas, a notorious Mexican criminal organization. Colom’s dramatic response came after a disturbing report found that the Zetas had taken effective control of the area nearly two years earlier.
A month later, Colom decided to extend the Guatemalan military’s deployment to the north. Finally, on February 18, he called off the siege and stated that the military measures had accomplished what they had set out to do. First, his forces captured 20 suspected members of the Zetas organization and, secondly, the military presence lowered the number of homicides in the area from 28 murders in two months to only 6 killings throughout the two month-long siege.
This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Fellow Megan McAdams
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