Guatemala's location between Mexico and the other Central American countries makes it a major transit country for South American cocaine producers. Drug traffickers transship bulk quantities of cocaine through Guatemala en route to Mexico, the United States, and Europe. Drug traffickers exploit Guatemala's well-established transportation facilities and its central location between South America and the United States to expedite air, maritime, and overland drug smuggling. Commercial tractor-trailers and private passenger vehicles are the primary means of transportation overland via the Pan-American Highway. General aviation aircraft also are used extensively. The large number of clandestine airfields and the lack of an internal radar system make the use of aircraft very attractive to trafficking organizations smuggling drugs through Guatemala. Drug trafficking organizations also use containerized cargo aboard commercial maritime vessels sailing from ports on the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Depending upon the smuggling operation, selected vessels load or off-load their drugs at Guatemalan ports. These shipments normally are destined for the major ports in Mexico and U.S. ports along the Gulf of Mexico.


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