GUATEMALA CALLS IN TROOPS TO FIGHT CRIME WAVE

July 26, 2004 - (Reuters) Guatemalan President Oscar Berger ordered 1,600 soldiers onto the streets of the capital on Monday to try to rein in the "terrible cancer'' of violent crime.

Almost 2,000 people have been murdered in Guatemala this year, making it one of the most violent countries in Latin America.

"It is urgent to vigorously tackle all types of crime if we don't want to be complicit in the progressive destruction of our country,'' Berger told police and soldiers gathered in Guatemala City's central square for the launch of the plan.

The 1,600 soldiers will join police agents brought to the city from rural districts to boost security in 24 crime hot spots in Guatemala City. Guatemala's army had previously been involved in law enforcement but not in large numbers.

Berger fired Interior Minister Arturo Soto last week under pressure to fulfill campaign promises to be tough on crime. The chief of police was also replaced.

A recent wave of gruesome killings of women and girls has shocked even crime-hardened Guatemalans and put pressure on the government to respond.

Berger said on Monday the crime wave was "a terrible cancer.''

Five hundred armed police wearing ski masks and complaining of poor conditions rebelled against the new security plan on Saturday, firing shots and taking control of Guatemala's police academy for several hours.

The rebel police, brought in from remote districts, negotiated an extra rest day to compensate for their long journeys to see their families and will participate in the new patrols.

Henry Hernandez, spokesman for Guatemala's government-appointed human rights ombudsman, said soldiers were not the solution to crime in Guatemala.

"We are worried because the army does not historically have the best marks when it comes to protecting public security,'' he told Reuters.

In 1999, a U.N.-backed report blamed Guatemala's army for hundreds of civilian massacres during the country's 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996 with peace agreements between the government and leftist guerrillas .

Guatemala's civil police force, created after the peace agreements were signed, has struggled to escape the shadow of the army and still relies on army intelligence for many investigations.

From: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-crime-guatemala.html