Guatemalan authorities detained five police officers, four of them from the anti-drugs force, and five government prosecutors accused of being part of a ring that smuggled chemicals into the country to produce synthetic drugs.

President Otto Perez praised an 18 percent drop in Guatemala's homicides, a figure that doesn't square with the statistics released by the police. But the overall trend is clear: the murder rate is inching downwards.

The murder of six taxi drivers in Guatemala in six days calls attention to the targeting of transit workers by organized crime throughout the region.

Guatemala announced it will deploy nearly 300 members of special operations force the Kaibiles to its northern border with Mexico, even though the unit has a troubled history of ties to the Zetas.

As Guatemala debates creating a national data base to cut down on cell phone theft, a key source of funding for the country's street gangs, skepticism remains about the viability of such an ambitious undertaking.

Authorities are reportedly investigating the possible involvement of the Zetas in a recent clash between local residents and the military in northern Guatemala. However, to suggest the Zetas have a stake in what appears to be a political issue is a stretch, and may be a move to discredit the protesters.

The US Embassy in Guatemala City is hosting a workshop to help authorities from Guatemala, Mexico and Belize improve cooperation against the trafficking of natural resources and cultural artifacts from the Mayan jungle.

Kidnapping in Guatemala dropped some 42 percent between 2008 and 2011 by the count of one NGO, which may be due to the increased number of cases being brought to trial instead of languishing in the court system.

Recent reports that dangerous Guatemalan street gangs from the MS-13 are teaming with even more dangerous Mexican criminal organization the Zetas are still as unfounded as when this was first reported several years ago.

In Guatemala, dirty money leaves the country in tourist class, in the luggage of hundreds of men and women recruited by criminal organizations that export bills of illegal origin. The Public Ministry has identified five networks that move hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars.