Guatemala Shifts Border Security to Intelligence Model

Guatemala is overhauling its border security strategy to counter increasingly agile transnational criminal organizations. The nation is shifting from a primary focus on interdiction to a new model built on intelligence, risk analysis, and anticipation, according to Vice Minister of Counternarcotics and Border Security Víctor Hugo Cruz in an exclusive interview with Diálogo.

This transformation involves greater coordination among security, customs, and immigration authorities. It also incorporates new technological and analytical capabilities. The goal is to anticipate criminal operations and strengthen border security.

New Model Driven by Evolving Threat

Transnational criminal groups are dynamic, constantly adapting their methods to use airports, ports, and borders for illicit activities. Cruz explained that while interdiction acts against detected illicit activity, an intelligence-based model provides a broader picture. It allows authorities to better understand importers and exporters, identify national trends, and focus efforts where risk is greatest.

This shift is also crucial for facilitating legitimate trade. Intelligence helps avoid unnecessary controls on trusted, lawful partners. Efforts can instead concentrate on those attempting to exploit supply chains for moving illicit goods.

Strengthening Interagency Coordination

A key effort is the Trade Facilitation Task Force. It brings together the National Civil Police, the Superintendency of Tax Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Guatemalan Migration Institute at points of entry.

This framework allows agencies at air, land, and maritime customs to analyze information and conduct coordinated inspections. Each agency retains its own responsibilities, but they work through shared communication mechanisms to act jointly. Cruz noted that previously, a single container might be inspected multiple times by different agencies. Now, agencies share information and can participate in a single, unified inspection.

This joint effort reduces duplication, improves communication, and facilitates trade without compromising controls. It extends to highway checkpoints and includes the shared analysis of X-ray images, making inspections more efficient.

Incorporating Technology and Analysis

Guatemala is incorporating new hardware and software. The hardware includes portable X-ray equipment and faster inspection systems at maritime customs. Images from this equipment can be analyzed by teams from different agencies to decide if a physical inspection is needed.

The software and analytical component involves teams that centralize information and use tools to strengthen risk analysis in coordination with other agencies. Specialized personnel, including chemists and engineers, conduct field tests to determine the nature of substances or precursors precisely.

Artificial intelligence is beginning to play a role, with some ports already using such tools to make logistics processes more efficient. From a security perspective, Guatemala continues working with international partners to learn about best practices and identify technologies for safe and effective integration.

Regional and International Cooperation

Guatemala views regional cooperation as essential. The country has established bilateral agreements with neighboring nations to facilitate information sharing among law enforcement agencies. The United States has been a key partner, helping facilitate communication across the region.

Exchanges occur not only with Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador but also with partners like Colombia and Panama. Working groups and high-level groups on border security exist, along with agile communication mechanisms along the borders themselves. With Honduras, for example, there are integrated land border posts where personnel from both countries work together.

Guatemala also participates in forums of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and other regional forums to share information, strategies, and best practices. This cooperation allows the country to learn from others while sharing its own practices against regional threats.

Priorities for Future Strengthening

Cruz identified communication security as the first priority for strengthening the intelligence model. Managing and safeguarding information is fundamental, ensuring it is available timely to those who need it. Work is underway on infrastructure like secure servers and protected transmission channels.

Strengthening analytical tools is another priority. Technologies that allow analysts to process information much faster are fundamental for intelligence and anticipation. Programs that enable secure information integration and collection are also needed, but they require appropriate infrastructure and licenses to ensure protection. This area requires particular attention to achieve true integration among air, maritime, and land customs facilities across Guatemala's 13 border posts.