Guatemala

Guatemala’s criminal organizations are among the most sophisticated and dangerous in Central America. Some of them have been in operation for decades. They include former members of the military, intelligence agencies and active members of the police. Transporting illegal drugs …

Marllory Chacón Rossell, better known as the “Queen of the South,” is a Guatemalan drug trafficker accused of working with the Lorenzana Clan to help Mexican organized crime groups like the Zetas and Sinaloa Cartel traffic tons of cocaine into …

Chiquimula is a transit point and hub for drug trafficking. It also has marijuana production and a vibrant contraband and illegal mining market.

Izabal is one of the most important transit hubs for cocaine being smuggled from Honduras into Guatemala by land, as well as for cocaine arriving by plane or sea from Colombia and Venezuela.

Jutiapa is a transit point for narcotics shipments and a hotspot for illegal firearm possession. Criminal groups smuggle illicit weapons into the department via its porous eastern border with El Salvador. Jutiapa consistently ranks among the Guatemalan departments with the …

The Lorenzanas are a traditional contraband family, who, over time, became enmeshed in the lucrative drug trade. The group’s criminal career ended in the early 2010s with the arrest and extradition of its top leaders.

Based in Guatemala’s northern-most province of Peten, the Mendozas mainly ran contraband before becoming one of Central America’s drug trafficking organizations (DTOs).

Horst Walther Overdick, alias “El Tigre,” was one of the biggest drug traffickers in Guatemala and a key facilitator of the Zetas’ expansion. He was reportedly captured in April 2012.

Guatemala’s 40-year civil war laid the groundwork for many criminal organizations, including several that spawned from state intelligence and military services. These organizations, collectively known as Illegal Clandestine Security Apparatuses (Cuerpos Ilegales y Aparatos Clandestinos de Seguridad – CIACS), are …