In recent years Mexico's Zetas drug cartel has encroached into Guatemala and other countries in Central America
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) - Guatemala’s ministry of defence has sanctioned two top army officials following a video showing them mixing with suspected drug traffickers at a horse race in central Guatemala, Insight Crime reports.
At the event were suspected drug traffickers from Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel and local criminals, says the website publication, Insight Crime.
"They did not have permission to be at the event," Colonel Rony Urizar, the defence ministry spokesman, told InSight Crime in a telephone interview. He added the video has been passed to the Attorney General's office for further possible criminal investigation but emphasised that the men's presence at the event is not proof they were committing a crime
In recent years, the Zetas drug cartel has encroached into Guatemala and other countries in Central America to control lucrative cocaine-smuggling routes into the United States.
According to Insight Crime, the Guatemalan military has a long history of working with organised crime, to the point where links between the military and criminal gangs have been given a name: Illegal Clandestine Security Apparatus (CIACS).
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