Convictions in the Los Cocos, Peten massacre

Twenty-seven farm workers were massacred at Los Cocos in the Peten in 2011. The massacre was an example of the drug trafficking wars being fought out in the rural areas of Guatemala and along its land and maritime borders with Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico.

Hal Brands wrote a post on The Peten Massacre in Context for the blog at the time and I wrote about how the massacre occurred in the midst of a decreasing homicide rate in that region (and as the rate was decreasing nationally).

On Friday, three Mexicans and six Guatemalans were convicted for their role in the murders and sentenced to 106 years in prison.

Judge Jeannette Valdez Rodas said in announcing the verdict that the evidence showed "a scene of terror" at the killing site at a ranch in the northern Peten region.

The killers showed "maximum cruelty, with minds that display the maximum degree of dehumanization," said Valdez Rodas, noting that one of the victims had been essentially gutted and had the letter "Z" carved into his stomach.

The men convicted continue to declare their innocence and one of them even said that "if we had a little more courage, we would say who did it."

Guatemala has done a good job since 2009 of decreasing its homicide rate, for a variety of reasons that they can and cannot take credit for, and improving its investigative and prosecutorial capabilities. As a result, impunity has decreased. However, insecurity remains high and I'm not sure that they are likely to see huge improvements over the next few years. Not worse might be a more reasonable goal.