A parade of security guards on Guatemala City’s Fifth Avenue dangle scary-looking shotguns. What they protect are not banks nor casinos, but humble stationery shops.
Guatemala, once among the world’s most violent countries, has halved its murder rate. However, reports of extortion have increased. Business owners, formal and informal, bus drivers, sex workers: few are spared. Extortion is a lucrative business for street gangs, but copycats get their share too. Criminals have allies among the police and judges, and so extortion goes unpunished.
