Word: guatemalans
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...point between South and North America. But only in recent years have investigators begun to see how firmly a narco-economy is taking hold there, which is always bad news for small, poor and corrupt countries like Guatemala. Experts say it's hard to know just how much the Guatemalan economy depends on drug profits, but they agree that it's a significant source of employment and capital today. If trafficking and related businesses were shut down, unemployment would skyrocket in certain parts of the country, like La Reforma, says Leonel Ruiz, second in charge at the federal public prosecutor...
...shop owner Wu Cheng-hsueh, 85°C now has 325 stores in Taiwan and is expanding into China, Australia and the U.S. Wu first built the business by finding good beans: in 2004, he went to the source of Starbucks' most popular beans and persuaded the Guatemalan supplier to sell him virtually all its arabicas (sorry, megachain). Then he hired five-star hotel chefs to concoct fancy drinks and desserts that sell for about half the price of Starbucks'. (See the top 10 food trends...
...busy Mexico-Guatemala border crossing at La Mesilla. Authorities found nearby what appeared to be an improvised hospital for the wounded, including an impromptu helicopter pad with evidence of use. Six people have been arrested in connection with the incident, four of them Mexican and at least one a Guatemalan, with an outstanding arrest warrant for drug-related crimes...
...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 has earned all year...
...justice system. Rember Larios, adjunct director of the national civil police, says the force was committed to facing the drug threat. "Our hand will not tremble," says Larios, noting that police were carrying out searches for traffickers and evidence in provinces with heavy narco presence. McFarland says the Guatemalan government's expanded budget for security next year was a positive sign. "My feeling is that the leaders of the government are aware that 2009 really is a sort of make or break year...