(AP Photo/Moises Castillo)GUATEMALA CITY -- Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo’s new administration says it will make addressing widespread extortion its top security priority. Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez, a security expert who has previously held the position, explained that Guatemala’s extortion problem is different from that in some neighboring countries. Authorities also trace most of the extortion back to Guatemala’s prisons, where inmates use contraband phones to threaten and terrorize small business owners. “As President Arévalo said, the issue of extortion is what we are going to make a particular priority this year,” Jiménez told The Associated Press in a telephone interview this week. Jiménez said another security priority would be going after drug trafficking operations, noting that their criminal enterprises often expand into other areas.

Source: ABC News January 20, 2024 16:45 UTC