Forty percent of Guatemalan food and beverage companies suffer from extortion: survey

Along with El Salvador and Honduras, Guatemala is one of the countries most affected by criminal organizations. A recent survey by the Guatemalan Chamber of Commerce for Food and Beverages (CGAB) found that 40 percent of companies in the sector are plagued by extortion.

Guatemala's La Repubblica newspaper reported on March 6 that a CGAB survey of 45 companies from the sector found that 40 percent were subject to extortion by criminal organizations. Seventy-five percent of the affiliates said they had been blackmailed for more than three years, while the rest had been blackmailed for more than seven years. The average amount extorted from each company amounted to 5 million quetzals ($64,071) a year.

In addition, 50 percent of the companies surveyed saw a 10 percent increase in extortion cases in 2022, mainly in the metropolitan areas of Central American countries and the southern region.

Enrique Lacs, executive director of CGAB, noted that extortion increases operating costs for businesses and affects a significant proportion of medium-sized companies. The number of such crimes is still on the rise in 2023, and there are no measures to curb extortion in Guatemala.

According to the Guatemalan National Center for Economic Research (CIEN), prosecutors received 14,725 reports of racketeering crimes in 2022, an increase of 11 percent compared to 13,288 in 2021. CGAB said the actual number could be higher, given unreported cases.

According to the Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report, "Racketeering in the Northern Triangle Countries of Central America: Follow the Money," Guatemala is a criminal organization engaged in racketeering that generates between $40 million and $57 million a year.

The CGAB stressed that 2023 is an election year and presidential candidates must specify what actions they will take to combat the phenomenon of racketeering and urged a series of strategies to combat it.