End of preview - This article contains approximately 293 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
Back
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Caribbean & Central America - 13 Jaunary 2017
TRACKING TRENDS
GUATEMALA | Military to withdraw from citizen security efforts. At the end of last year Interior Minister Francisco Rivas told the local press that the conservative Frente de Convergencia Nacional (FCN-Nación) government led by President Jimmy Morales planned to phase out the use of the military in citizen security efforts. Currently some 4,200 military officers assist the national police (PNC) in these efforts – a strategy rolled out by Morales’ predecessors, as part of efforts to tackle the country’s notorious crime rates. Rivas said the planned phase-out – which will take place in two stages, with 50% of officers to be withdrawn in April 2017 and the rest by year-end – was made possible due to the sustained increase in PNC officers. This reached 37,000 following the graduation of 2,128 additional PNC officers in December 2016, with plans for a further 4,000 to graduate this year.
