Mafia Land Grabs Worry Guatemala
Drug Trafficking and people smuggling organizations have purchased vast properties in strategic places in Guatemala to facilitate their illegal activities, admitted Vice President Eduardo Stein.

Organized crime groups are forcing owners to sell their lands in the departments of Izabal, Jutiapa, and Zacapa, which have borders with Honduras and El Salvador, as well as in the northern department of Peten, said Stein.

The vice president mainly referred to drug trafficking and people smuggling groups who used the country as a bridge to the US.

Stein denounced that people living in the border zone or on the banks of some important rivers and lakes, who fought for years to legalize their lands, are being forced to leave them.

La Prensa Libre daily Monday reported the case of four large farms illegally bought on the boundaries of Laguna del Tigre natural park reserve, in Peten department.