Country Reports on Terrorism 2007 - Guatemala

Guatemala continued to strengthen its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regime since its 2004 removal from the Financial Action Task Force list of Non-Cooperative Countries. With U.S. assistance, Guatemala formed an interagency money laundering task force with representation from the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Guatemalan tax authority, and the Public Ministry (prosecutor's office). There was no credible evidence of terrorist financing in Guatemala.

In May/June, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense, Guatemala inaugurated its first military counterterrorist unit. The Guatemalan Counterterrorist unit, primarily tasked with counterterrorism operations, also had counternarcotics operations and border enforcement capabilities.

Severe resource constraints, corruption, and an ineffective criminal justice system hampered efforts against transnational crime threats such as drug trafficking and alien smuggling, especially in remote areas of the country. Guatemala's northern and western borders with Mexico lacked effective coverage by police or military personnel, and controls of its southern and eastern borders with El Salvador have been relaxed as part of the Central American integration process. Nevertheless, Guatemalan civil aviation and port authorities provided strong cooperation to U.S. requests for assistance in investigating potential terrorism leads. The Guatemalan government was working to enhance overall maritime, aviation security, and counterterrorism capabilities to remain in compliance with rising international standards.