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Security & Strategic Review - October 2026
GUATEMALA: Explosive media report reignites concerns over narco-politics
In August Rodrigo Arenas, a businessman and founder of digital media outlet República, made headlines amid claims that Guatemala’s congress president, Luis Contreras, of the opposition right-wing Compromiso, Renovación y Orden (Creo), and one of the main presidential contenders ahead of the June 2027 general election, Roberto Arzú, the son of the late former president Álvaro Arzú (1996-2000), had a plan to kill him and his editorial team over investigations carried out by the media outlet into narco-politics. It came the same month that República released a dossier mapping “the convergence of political power, organised-crime interests, narcotics-trafficking structures, territorial control, and political financing in Guatemala”. Arenas himself, whose ideology is widely described by the local media as far right, is not without controversy, having previously been linked to corruption. Nonetheless the alleged threat on his life and República report have reignited longstanding concerns regarding links between politicians and organised crime ahead of next year’s vote.
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