Criminal Organizations and Illicit Trafficking in Guatemala's Border Communities

: Guatemala faces a growing, potentially existential threat. Territories and routes which once experienced moderate trafficking of goods, humans, and drugs have become superhighways for the transfer of high value products, chemical products, weapons, and cash required by the illicit drug industry. Due to Guatemala's border with Mexico and a permissive environment for contraband and crime, the country has become a funnel for 90 percent of the cocaine sent from South America to the United States the largest drug market in the world. Various independent and governmental reports have explained the gravity of the violence and organized crime in Guatemala, and the danger these factors pose to regional stability reports focus on the failures of national security policies, attempts to reform the national police and judicial systems, and international counter-narcotics efforts. Local dynamics which underpin this national crisis, such as the relationships between criminal networks and local authorities and institutions, go overlooked.