No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveGuatemalan Anti-Opium Operation ‘Successful’

Guatemalan Anti-Opium Operation ‘Successful’

GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemalan security forces exceeded original expectations for the anti-drug operation they launched Aug. 28 in five municipalities on the Mexican border, an official announced.

Chief of the National Civil Police (PNC), Henry López, one of the operation’s organizers, told reporters that “we were able to eradicate 15 million opium-poppy plants,”many more than the 10 million plants that information from the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala said existed in that region.

Besides the destruction of the poppy plants, López said that some 20 people were arrested in the operation, including Cornelio Chilel, considered one of the top drug-traffickers in the region.

“We also confiscated some 5,000 marijuana plants, two kilos of cocaine and three kilos of cured marijuana, along with high-caliber firearms,” the police chief said.

López said that “we have surpassed the expectations we had at the outset of the operation and we think by the time we have finished we will have destroyed some 25 million poppy plants.”

According to the Ministry of the Interior, poppies cultivated in this country are sent to Mexico for the extraction of pure opium, the raw material for making heroin, which is then trafficked to the United States.

The administration of President Oscar Berger last week decreed a “state of prevention” and suspended several constitutional guarantees in five municipalities of the western province of San Marcos to clear the way for the large-scale operation against drug trafficking.

The state of emergency applies to the municipalities of Concepcion Tutuapa, Ixchiguan, San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Tajumulco and Tejutla, where some 1,800 hectares of poppy were thought to be cultivated.

The emergency decree limits constitutional guarantees for residents of the targeted communities, including the right to public assembly, the right to bear firearms and the right to travel freely. It also includes censorship, banning local media from publishing or airing reports on the police operation “that could stir the inhabitants to opposition.”

In another operation Aug. 5, security forces confiscated 50 kilos of cocaine and arrested three Guatemalans presumed to be drug traffickers on the south side of the capital.

According to data from the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, this country is the world’s sixth biggest producer of opium paste for making morphine and heroin.

In San Marcos, 61% of the 880,000 inhabitants live in extreme poverty, but some local farmers who previously earned $530 every six months now earn $6,000 in the same length of time growing poppies, according to Guatemalan anti-narcotics officials.

 

Trending Now

Costa Rica President Confronts Calls to Strip Immunity

Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves denounced today an “attempted judicial coup” as he appeared before a congressional committee that must recommend to the full...

San Jose Airport Achieves Top 5 Global Ranking in Passenger Experience

Juan Santamaría International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica's main gateway managed by AERIS, has earned the prestigious Level 5 Customer Experience certification from...

Route 32 Reopens Following Preventive Closure Over Landslide Risk

Route 32, which connects San José with Limón, was reopened this morning after being closed for nearly 12 hours as a preventive measure due...

Costa Rica Anglers Catch Rare Orange and Albino Nurse Shark

Anglers on a fishing trip off Costa Rica's Caribbean coast caught a nurse shark unlike any seen before: bright orange skin and stark white...

In Costa Rica, Rare White-Lipped Peccaries Still Survive

Today we meet the white-lipped peccary, a large animal that travels in large groups that has disappeared from a large part of its historical...

Panama Union Files Lawsuits Against Chiquita Over Mass Layoffs

Panama’s President, José Raúl Mulino, will meet in Brazil with U.S. banana company Chiquita Brands in search of an agreement for the company to...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica