1986: In charge of the municipal police and local authorities for Guatemala City under Álvaro Arzú. 1988: Director of administrative management for the municipality of Guatemala. 1989: In charge of the official food-for-jobs program. 1991-1995: Worked on neighbourhood improvement projects. 1996: Head of the presidential general secretariat for social welfare under the Arzú government. 1996-1999: Named deputy interior minister, in charge of public security. 2000: Elected mayor of Villanueva (re-elected in 2003 and 2007). 2008: Ranked 10th best mayor in the world by the world mayor project. 2008: Heads the Secretaría de Coordinación Ejecutiva de la Presidencia. January 2009: Appointed interior minister. Strengths: With extensive political experience, through his position both as deputy interior minister and mayor of one of the most violent municipalities in the country, Gándara has an acute awareness of the country's security situation. His appointment has also been well received by the rightwing opposition Partido Patriota through his identification with a more hard-handed “mano dura" approach to tackling crime, suggesting that the opposition will be less vociferous in its criticism of Colom's security policy. Weaknesses: The enormity of the challenge facing Gándara cannot be underestimated, with 6,234 violent deaths registered in 2008, according to police figures (although other groups put the figure at less). With the deterioration of the security situation in Guatemala attributed to the increasing presence of Mexican drug cartels in the country, high level officials, including Vice-President Rafael Espada, admitted at the end of 2008 that the authorities were unable to cope with the level of organised crime in the country. Meanwhile Gándara himself has been heavily criticised by human rights organisations. The umbrella human rights group, Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos - which comprises organizations such as the Archbishop's Office of Human Rights in Guatemala (ODHA), Seguridad en Democracia, Instituto de Estudios Comparados, and the Centro de Acción Legal de Derechos Humanos - expressed fears that Gándara's appointment signaled a step backwards. Convergencia spokesperson, Claudia Samayoa, also pointed to serious human rights violations committed during the Arzú government, particularly with regard to dealing with gangs of kidnappers, which implicated Gándara. She also highlighted the increase in cases of “social cleansing" or extrajudicial crimes which occurred in Villa Nueva while Gándara was in charge. Prospects: The government's inability to cope with the parlous security situation has been its Achilles heel and the pressure is on Gándara to achieve results. He has already said he will continue the security policies begun by his predecessor, which have focused on purging the police of corrupt officials and attempting to strengthen the force as an institution. Some human rights groups have warned that in order to be seen to be addressing the situation - which, according to director of the UN-backed International Commission against Impunity (Cicig), Spanish jurist Carlos Castresena, will result in Mexican cartels running the country within two years if left unchecked - the government will undertake “spectacular" police operations to provide the image at least of being tough on crime. More generally, in terms of the possibility that Gándara will revert to a more hardline (mano dura) strategy, it is worth noting that recent studies such as that released in February 2008 by a Costa Rican research company, Demoscopia, show that far from reducing the gang problem (also identified with the problem of violence) mano dura policies merely serve to strengthen the gangs. Instead the report called for a greater need for prevention and rehabilitation programmes, together with community support measures.
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