Caribbean & Central America - September 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Described by the police reform commissioner Adela Camacho de Torrebiarte as the “first step towards professionalising the [police] institution”, President Otto Pérez Molina inaugurated a brand new police academy in August. The president has signalled that he intends to make good on his January 2012 accession pledge to reform the national police force (PNC) – something that long eluded his predecessors. Yet there are still lingering doubts about the extent of Pérez Molina’s commitment to police reform given his more obvious inclination towards the military. Civic groups remain suspicious of Pérez Molina’s background (he served as head of the military intelligence [D-2] during the 1960-1996 civil war) and his apparent readiness to involve the military in citizen security.

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