DELEGATION: Guatemala

COMMITTEE: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Topic Area: Drugs trafficking and Transnational Crimes Organization influence in

Latin America.

In the Latin American region, criminal violence is one of the main objects of public policy
and political debate. Although the dynamics of violence in Latin American countries are
remarkably diverse and complex, many of them are associated with drug trafficking and
transnational crime. This has led to high levels of homicide and political instability within
states, with Central America being the sub-region most affected in terms of violence. In this
sense, the countries in the center of the continent have become the main focus for the routes
and transport of illicit substances, since their geographical positions facilitate the mobility
and flow of drugs to North America, the main importing region.

Guatemala is one of the most affected states by this issue and its levels of violence and
homicide indicate it, as these are strongly related to organized crime and the flow of illicit
drugs (mainly focused on marijuana and poppy crops). Furthermore, the border between
Guatemala and Honduras is, even today, an overly critical point where different transnational
criminal organizations converge in a dispute for power and monopoly of the drug market.

Our country has made efforts from within, hand in hand with the government and civil
society. From the normative and legislative body, legal mechanisms have been created, such
as the Law against Narcoactivity, the Law of Organized Crime, the International Commission
against Impunity in Guatemala and the strategies coordinated with the other countries that
make up the Northern Triangle, which are the states of Honduras and El Salvador.

However, levels of violence and homicide rates have reached exceedingly high levels,
reaching 39 percent per 100 inhabitants in 2011. Also, this problem represents a threat to the
stabilization of democracy and lasting peace in the Central American country, previously
characterized by waves of corruption and militarization.

That is why Guatemala extends an open invitation to strengthen the ties already coordinated
in terms of drug control and organized crime, as well as to create new policies with different
countries in the world. Therefore, strategies must be projected at the micro and macro level,
that is, by joining efforts at the sub-regional level with the countries of the Northern Triangle,
at the regional level with the countries of Latin America (especially Mexico and other South
American countries) and at the international level, integrating countries of North America
and Europe.

In this regard, the delegation of Guatemala proposes a plan with three components based on
the three pillars of UNODC: First, research and analysis, where an update on the
intersection routes of illicit drugs and transnational criminal groups operating in Latin
America is made, integrating all this information in a large database managed from within
this organization. This will be called "The Great Base Against Organized Transnational
Crime and Drug Trafficking". This also requires collaboration with the academic sector, to
continuously carry out reports and research on the effects and incidence of criminal groups
and their work on the trafficking of illicit drugs.

Second, the establishment of international norms and standards, which implies the
integration of a convention that has binding effects so that national governments strengthen
policies towards the eradication of the mobility of illicit drugs, along with weapons.
Likewise, border control strategies must be guaranteed, since these constitute a focus of
criminality on the part of cartels and criminal groups. Therefore, a binding agreement should
be issued between the Latin America and the Caribbean countries

Third, the capacity-building through technical assistance, which implies strengthening

local and national strategies within the legislative and legal framework of the countries. In
this sense, more efficient judicial systems are needed that can better regulate territorial
control and the appropriation of the monopoly of legitimate violence by the State and its
institutions. This is in order to dismantle organized crime groups operating in the region
through stronger military bodies, as well as in the design of crime prevention mechanisms.

Finally, this delegation strongly believes that collective efforts make a difference.
Transnational organized crime, as well as drug trafficking, are problems that concern a large
number of countries. For this reason, the commitment of all the states present and the
integration of different actors of diverse nature, such as international organizations and the
private sector, is needed. This is in order to eradicate a phenomenon that has affected
considerably the security of the Latin American region and still today. constitutes an urgency.

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