Security & Strategic Review - July 2005

Guatemala is emerging as the Central American country where the prospect of merging security and defence functions under 'national guards', following the model recommended by the US, is being most hotly debated. The region as a whole is pressing for the prompt deployment of its recently announced 'rapid deployment force', which many see as a prototype - but is likely to start out as a loosely coordinated collection of national units formally assigned to an as-yet undefined role.