Guatemala detains national police chief, anti-drug czar in drug case tied to police deaths

Guatemalan police chief, drug czar detained

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala’s national police chief and anti-drug czar were detained Tuesday in a case of stolen cocaine that led to the deaths of five police agents.

Attorney General Amilcar Velasquez told The Associated Press that Police Chief Baltazar Gonzalez, anti-drug czar Nelly Bonilla and a third, unidentified official were being held “for being linked to the robbery of drugs in Amatitlan in March 2009.”

None of the three had been charged.

Velasquez did not describe how the death of the agents was related to the stolen cocaine in Amatitlan, just south of Guatemala City and officials did not immediately give details about the case.

Gonzalez is the second national police chief to be detained for alleged drug ties in the past year. In September, Porfirio Perez was suspended and later detained for allegedly stealing $300,000 from smugglers. He is awaiting trial.

Tuesday’s arrests rocked the government of leftist President Alvaro Colom only days before he is scheduled to discuss his country’s drug war with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will visit Guatemala as part of her tour through Latin America this week.

On Sunday, Colom fired Interior Minister Raul Velasquez, who had signed a $6.2 million contract with a private company to buy fuel for the country’s national police. Authorities say the company embezzled the money. Velazquez was not charged with any wrongdoing.

Guatemala has long struggled to battle corruption among top law enforcement officials overseeing the fight against drug trafficking gangs.

Velasquez said Tuesday’s arrests were the result of an investigation by Guatemalan authorities and the U.N.-sponsored International Commission Against Impunity.

At the time of the March 2009 gunbattle, police said it involved members of the Zetas, a group of hit men linked to Mexico’s powerful Gulf cartel, which has extended its operations into Guatemala in recent years after coming under pressure from Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s drug war.

After the shootout in Amatitlan, police said they seized automatic weapons and about 500 rocket-launch grenades.