US Policy Driving Militarization in Guatemala

US Policy Driving Militarization in Guatemala
Sunday, 05 July 2015 00:00
By Jeff Abbott, Truthout | News Analysis

Residents of Guatemala City are angry with the United States Marines. Early in June, a Marine CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter flew low over Zone 9 of Guatemala city, causing damage to buildings in the area. The United States Embassy confirmed to the Guatemalan press that the helicopter did indeed belong to the United States Marine Corps Southern Command. The embassy explained that, "due to high winds, the helicopter could not maintain altitude after takeoff. It regained its altitude, but apparently the airstream caused by the rotors damaged buildings."

At the end of May, 280 Marines from the United States Southern Command arrived in Central America on a six-month deployment based north of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Reportedly, they're here to perform humanitarian response in the event of a disaster, train local militaries, and combat drug trafficking.

The forces add to the permanent presence of US soldiers in the region; the United States maintains bases in Honduras and El Salvador, and has a mobile unit in Guatemala. US Southern Command has stated that the soldiers' purpose is to "establish security cooperation" in the region, but security observers argue that these policies are contributing to the militarization that has already occurred.

"This is part of the remilitarization that has occurred in Guatemala in the years since the signing of the peace accords (in 1996)," Sandino Asturias, a security expert and director of the Center for Guatemalan Studies, told Truthout. "The United States has financed the creation of forces to control the borders. They have a strategic objective to control the borders of Guatemala."

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http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31637-us-policy-driving-militarization-in-guatemala