mr burton comes i'll give him his due accolades because he used to be the ranking member of the subcommittee and indeed even the chairman of the subcommittee and we have always worked together very well so i am pleased to welcome everyone today battle against mexico's drug cartels meanwhile mexican cartels have move more aggressively than ever into guatemala a country with weaker institutions and his neighbor to the north last thursday thirty eight hundred bullets and five hundred sixty three grenades that were seized from mexican cartels in guatemala in april were determined to have originally been the property of the guatemalan army in the april seizure police also found eight anti personnel mines eleven m sixteen machine guns bulletproof vests in two armored cars drug related violence in guatemala unfortunately complicate an already difficult situation guatemala has a long history of violence and one of the highest murder rates in latin america in a report to the guatemalan congress the country's human rights bud's men noticed that two thousand and eight was and i quote the bloodiest year of our history unquote with sixty two hundred ninety two home aside of victims that's six thousand two hundred ninety two illegally armed groups drug cartels and youth gangs and contributing to spiraling violence on may eighteenth a priest from the united states living in guatemala lorenzo rosebowl was brutally killed during a robbery i believe it's time to say enough is enough last month i sent a letter to secretary of state hillary clinton urging her to focus greater attention and resources on guatemala well i am pleased at the marriott initiative includes funding for central america at my insistence i believe that much more must be done to support our partners in central america and particularly guatemala in my letter i outlined three key areas for the united states and intensify our support for guatemala first of all we must continue to focus married initiatives efforts on police training and reform this should include an increase in the number of us government permanent staff and detail he's offering police training in areas such as crime scene protection and evidence collection secondly since its creation in two thousand and seven i have been one of congress's strongest supporters of the un international commission against impunity in guatemala known as seasick an independent body created with the support of the guatemalan government to investigate the country's serious problems organized crime and clandestine security networks we need to build on current u s support to the sea saying this means providing details to be seasick from the f b i and other u s agencies on a case by case basis offer investigatory expertise as well as helping the seasick to build up its witness and victim protection programs thirdly there needs to be a greater focus in my opinion on the prevention side of youth gang violence my hope is that today's hearing will serve as a call to action for all of us to help our friends in guatemala to emerge from the current cycle of violence and impunity the challenges that guatemala faces should serve as a stark reminder that we must develop a more holistic strategy to combat drugs and violence in the western hemisphere and currently exist as we focus more attention tensely on guatemala let us not lose sight of history each time we work with our partners in the americas to go after  drug cartels and drug related violence the cartels inevitably move on to the next country a more holistic approach means not simply fighting yesterday's battles but also looking ahead to vulnerable countries like just was in hundred or last week but hillary clinton at the oas meeting finally as i have said time and time again a more holistic approach means doing more within our own borders to curb our own country's demand for drugs and to stop the illegal trafficking of guns and weapons down south from the united states that fuel violence throughout the region i would be remiss not to mention the tragic may tenth america of guatemalan lawyer roderigo rosenberg for those of us in the in the in the international community the murder of audrina rosenberg and the allegations surrounding his death should not become an exercise in finger pointing instead we must  investigation rosenberg's murder in the political chaos that he has created only reinforces the need for a stronger justice system and an end to impunity in guatemala particularly the rosenberg murder way he had written something on paper saying that if i'm murdered this is who murdered me and i certainly think that needs to be investigated very carefully i would like to before i introduce our witnesses  our members who are here if they desire they don't have to chance to make an opening statement mislead the client missed a serious ok everyone's cooperating so i'm pleased to college mark schneider is the senior vice president of the international crisis group and a former director of the peace corps and last but certainly not least even johnson is a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for western hemisphere do you push the button and move close to the microphone at present thank you very much for the invitation thank you very much as well for the interest in my country as an expression of that solidarity thank your introduction mr chairman gave a very good panoramic view what we are up against and what we are undergoing we haven't reached a critical point in beijing that weaknesses of our institutional scaffolding within the criminal justice system as well as the barriers  public and private dilutions by power structures which compromised not only the most basic services the what the modern society but which truly meant to the very functioning of a democratic state the tightening of the overall fight against an eradication of the narcotic related criminal organizations in colombia and mexico has triggered a dangerous migration to the drug cartels into central american countries which have resulted in portions of our territory under their control the country is indeed in an immediate risk of being overtaken by the cartels the commotion created the what the mala by the international commission against impunity in recent months is a natural consequence of the mandate and natural evolution of its investigative work and the result of the very obstacles found in some people within the institutions responsible for providing equitable and efficient criminal justice system and the penetration of our institutions have become eviden but this commotion is has helped to clarify the picture and through the complex national and regional agenda to pinpoint the most urgent and transcendental objectives to pursue involvement of all other branches of government and organized sectors of society branch cannot do it alone so was a s administration and the new u s congress have the renewed their commitment to help strengthen our democratic institutions and help in its second term of his extended monday we cannot expect to get different results by doing the same things we have been doing in the past there might be a need as well the married up plan in this regard widen and diversify th strengthening elements of the plan which are there and very intelligently drafted by the way but we will need the participation of us institutions that have the experience and the know how  criminal investigation and prosecution we need the participation of that apartment of justice we have heard rumors mr chairman that some instances would like to members these protesters and called alternatively for the president's resignation a general strike and even military intervention a five minute drive away a world apart i afghanistan to zimbabwe in detention to prevent conflict and resolve conflicts in the americas while we focus on the andes in haiti the board of trustees has asked us to assess conditions in guatemala for that reason i travel the water molecule months ago after a hiatus of a few years although i visited during periods of military rule civil conflict peace negotiations in the immediate post conflict reconstruction years when i was a day on this trip i have to say that i was simply stunned by the magnitude of drug trafficking crime and impunity and the expressions of government officials and former officials of being overwhelmed by these threats to the rule of law could have a map is up there but essentially what you have is you have drug cartels that have taken up residence in a broad swath of watermelon and they now dominate perhaps forty percent of rural guatemala they control or intimidate local authorities in minas a pallet that extends from the northern provinces which border mexico down through the center of the country through probe on to the caribbean coast the same holds true in the potential and along with this if it goes an increasing number of these cases we're told cocaine coming to the united states stopping first on the guatemalan coast caribbean pacific sides repacking reshift into the hands of the cartels going north in guatemala there's been an increase of forty seven percent over the past two years another important amount probably far more than currently estimated stops in another central american country and then travels on to guatemala before entering mexico for many years a sort of low a cartel essentially was unchallenged until the arrival of the gulf cartel a very few years ago with the paid assassins the results are reflected in what you've already heard a fifty percent increase in homicides in guatemala between two thousand and four and two thousand and six in maintaining that level the amount of cocaine passing through central america the mexican corridor or to the united states of the exact amount to subject to much debate what is not debated is that seventy five about eighty five percent of the cocaine coming from south america uses that border and what is not debated now is that the first stop of entry for cocaine leaving south america is no longer mexico is central america and the single largest transit country in central america and out of his was a model of the second you have different estimates  volume of cocaine flowing toward the u s based on different calculations state department in its annual report stated that four hundred metric tons of cocaine float across guatemala mexico to the united states that's probably a very low figure inner agency community of the actual documented movement of departing south america in two thousand and eight and headed mostly for the united states through mexico and central america what these estimates show regardless of which one you s counter drug policies are not stopping the flow of great volumes of cocaine toward the united states clearly given these figures and the next slide which essentially show was amount of cocaine the stops first in mexico red line show the bar shows the amount of cocaine stopping first and central america as you can see last year there is a fundamental shi interdiction ideally should take place before cocaine enters mexico not after not traveling with that illicit commerce of the killers murdered most of the sixty three hundred watt amala victims last year as many homicides as in mexico a country nine times larger the amount of money involved is also huge at wholesale prices in guatemala in two thousand and six according to the u n one hundred eighty metric tons of drugs that i indicated earlier passing through  represents two point four billion dollars in value and if you think about just ten percent of that being used for expenses it's clear that they have huge resources to pay for bribery corruption and murder  for many miles it's not just drug traffickers to reduce the violence there are other threats particularly in urban areas in guatemala city as you may know taking a bus is a calculated risk hundred seventy one bus drivers were murdered last year and some sixty this year as part of organized crime efforts to extort money from both bus bus companies and unions not surprisingly polls show the guatemalan see themselves as having a culture of violence and a nation of impunity just ninety eight percent of the days thirty thousand protesters demanding an investigation and prosecution and conviction in the murder of a well known address rosenberg hopefully that will mark that historic public turn demand respect for the rule of law second  you know guatemala has requested in the u s has extended for two years to two thousand and eleven the mandate of the international commission against impunity but they need more help the judge carlos heads that has indicated that he needs additional support for investigators prosecutors here couple specific thing the u s should convert f b i agents spanish speaking prosecutors and forensic specialists not just in helping to bring the murders of rosenberg to justice but they help a lot of mala build institutions the rule of law mr schneider could i ask you to please yes please some of the other is that they really do need to provide support for high impact boards protect witnesses protect produce a more effective policy to reduce demand here supply in south america and transit through central america in the caribbean thank you thank you very much secretary johnson germany representative burton distinguished members of the committee thank you for inviting me to testify on this important subject you have my full statement before you but i just would like to summarize that statement right now a transnational crime affects all of us and it is perhaps the most eminent security threat in him a sphere that is the one that affects the most people in their daily lives and currently poses the most danger to all of our government one of all is one of the most vulnerable countries in central america as you have heard before in other testimony it is in the middle of a massive drug trafficking route from the andes to north american markets and besides that it's thirty six years civil war legacy of impunity and attendant problems with human rights abuse imposed a decades long moratorium on assisting its security forces that now struggle with outdated equipment and meager training amal is immediate neighbors cannot supply very much have experienced similar political turmoil and all have tiny economies comparable to small towns in the united states so that the scope of the problem is much greater than the resources that are available at least among our allies and our partners now violent drug cartels in mexico are extending their reach southward taking over territory once controlled by colombian and local traffickers ill prepared for the challenge guatemala offers a path of very little resistance guatemala is not the only country struggling against transnational crime in the hemisphere public statements from the u s office of national drug control policy suggest that narcotics and arms trafficking extend north toward canada and south toward argentina drugs also moved from colombia through venezuela to africa and europe caribbean airspace and sea lanes from venezuela to has been yola represent another corridor for a least illicit transport if the situation continues to spin out of control in guatemala however it will weaken police efforts in neighboring countries and harm mexico's campaign to rein in violent criminal cartels potentially destabilizing that country of one hundred million persons on our southern border although you're hearing is focused on guatemala's problems we should bear in mind that drug trafficking is actually a global criminal enterprise involving hundreds of billions of dollars ultimately efforts to reduce its impact will be successful if as many neighboring countries as possible can work together contributing what special expertise each has according to the resources that each can reasonably apply what i'm always leaders and leading citizens must be encouraged and supported in organizing their government better to reduce impunity hurt corruption corruption improve tax collection and strengthen law enforcement elites must exchange simple concern for individual wellbeing for communitarian values only guatemalans can decide to fund a larger more professional police force only guatemalans more youths in school and out of harms way and only they can encourage sons and daughters to study for careers in public service where expertise sorely needed for our part the united states should help guatemala analyze all that it needs to do to attack the problem not necessarily in terms of off the shelf solution solutions which we have used up to this point but by engaging in new creative thinking and the united states must be realistic about financing you're donating  entire fiscal year two thousand and nine merit a funding request for guatemala about eighteen million dollars would buy just one helicopter that's clearly not enough to make a difference interdicting smugglers especially when you take a look at the maps that mark presented requires surveillance intelligence collection mobility technical devices and a proper legal framework for law enforcement to stay ahead of criminals and not prey on innocent citizens progress is ongoing but the rate may not be fast enough to overcome serious challenges i'd be happy to answer any questions you might have thank you thank you very much and thank all of you for  very good testimony mr burton has a joined us and i would like to at this time give him an opportunity to make any remarks that he might wish to make mr chairman i won't make any remarks right now i'd like to have my statement included in the record but i would like to ask some questions of our panel after you ask yours and i thank you very much and i apologize for my tardiness i had an unexpected problem in my office thank you well let me just say it's nice to have you back again my old buddy let me ask the panelists anyone who cares to answer can can can answer a recent news reports about the heavy duty weapons that mexican drug cartels are using in guatemala lake make clear the challenge that these cartels pose to the guatemalan state itself someone guatemala and in the international community would argue that the challenges posted by these cartels serve as a call to action for the guatemalan military many others however argue that given the brutal role of the country's military its thirty six year civil war it makes much more sense to utilize the country's police forces and going after drug cartels so let me ask you these questions how would you evaluate the need for military versus police action to directly combat drug cartels operating in guatemala let me just ask that question for anyone who cares to answer i'd be grateful mr schneider i think that one of fundamental needs in guatemala is clearly on civilian law on force major mistake to believe that the way to respond to the threat of drug trafficking and to increasingly organized crime is by bringing the military does need to be some additional capability i believe though that the fundamental requirement is to do everything possible to reform that train and support the civilian law enforcement police an ask you in conjunction with that because in your testimony you said that drug cartels dominate i think you said forty percent of the national territory in guatemala so that's accurate what can the government do to regain control of its territory and to ensure that the cartels don't continue to deepen their presence in the countryside thank you i think in fact what you need is the international commission against impunity together with the international community including the united states needs to municipalities they know where they are they know which ones are controlled and they know which ones in essentially are under control of drug traffickers they need to develop a plan to go one by one and to go in and to prosecute underscore here is that in rural communities in particular the distinction between the police and the military it is clear to us one civilian law enforcement institution and the other not is actually far less apparent and citizens in rural communities are really frightened of an abusive corrupt inefficient police force so the challenge is not just strengthening the administration we went ahead in reducing the numbers and the budget of the what the modern army even beyond the numbers and percentages called for by the peace professional army rather than a territorial control outfit and that's why we opted for the strengthening o poses serious contradictions even within the social democratic doctrine that this government professes they decided to beef up the army again and increase their budget because they feel that police forces are not capable of dealing with such a formidable challenge as the one posed by the drug cartels and their weaponry but i would revert to your statement your opening statement where there is a need for a holistic approach and i would argue chairman i'd just like to add that to many ways it's a question of roles and responsibilities and there are some things that the police can do and should be doing better than the military and there are some things that the military can offer particularly in their constitutional role of providing border defense and aerospace and maritime domain defense that doesn't mean that the military needs to be involved in apprehensions but one of the weaknesses that the civilian defense has at least the police has is that they don't have the mobility to be able to get to areas when operations are going down for instance the entire northern half of the country is pretty much difficult territory for them because they can't get to  some of these strips and some of these areas where airplanes come in crash land and then cruise and and people on board and people waiting for them to take the drug cartels away and head for the river and then to the mexican territory you have to be able to move very fast so in some ways there has to be some kind of cooperation between military and police and the roles need to be established that there needs to be a legal framework for and there needs to be adequate funding so that they have the kind of equipment that they need there was one propeller driven airplane that i saw on my last visit that was available for tracking patrol and  interdiction helicopter fleet seems to be doing well but if you're going to catch some of the airborne traffic in the north you have to be able to travel fast and in the south there is a lack of air patrol capability and overall in guatemalan mentioned in my opening statement and many of you mentioned it and as i had mentioned this ceasing un convention to national commission against impunity in guatemala has widespread support of both in guatemala and throughout the international community so let me ask you specifically with regard to see how effective has the c c been what constrains their ability to investigate and help prosecute crimes to what extent are the various elements of the guatemalan government cooperating with the c c against you know they are not able to formally prosecute cases and need to rely on its partnership with the public prosecutor's office so has the public prosecutor's office proven to be a good partner for doubts about his ability to resolve a case is the quote i have for him says i still have no wiretaps no maximum security prisons no far reaching courts so how do you expect us to resolve the rosenberg case or any other that's a quote from carlos sastre sana so coupled with that what are the prospects of a successful prosecution of those responsible for the murder of mr rosenberg and what are the real stakes in the rosenberg case how much does quite a mile as long term stability depend on the case being successfully resolved i know i've thrown out a lot there but they're all connected and anyone if you would like to take a shot at it i'd be i'd be grateful set of legal questions to be solved before it came into being and you mention one of them the commission has no capacity to prosecute the ro our own institutions to comply with the kind of partnership that is needed not a single day has been marked in any of the cases prosecutor's office and personnel of the court system to try to make in the cases they are putting together so i were kind of watching i mean they were these problems but there was a sense of progress being made and things being on the right track and then a curious sort of things happened which i think reflects one of the thorniest challenges also that we face first of all there was a tremendous embrace in the atmosphere after the rosenberg assassination there was a kind of a general relief which was thank god we have this and now this can save us and save democracy in the country save our institutions solve this deal with the problems of organized crime and here your letter mr chairman goes i think much of the way in fact better capabilities in terms of f b i investigators in terms of prosecutors if the to what i have here in front of me mr rosenberg did a taping before he was killed and he the president and his wife and other close associates of having authorized the murder of one of the lawyers clients concern and would reveal their involvement in corruption in the partially state rural development bank ban d how in the world are you going to get justice if the president was involved in this murder or and his wife was and if the prosecutor and the judges are working together it sounds like to me you've got a real cabal that you have to deal with i mean you're telling us here today that we ought to do this we ought to do that we have to do this but i mean if you've got the top executive in the country and the prosecutorial staff and the judges all saying they're not go do anything they're going to cover this thing up how do you anticipate changing that while you're thinking about that let me ask another question you know we give a lot of mileage cording to my records here in front of me they received fifty one point three million dollars in u s assistance in fiscal year two thousand and seven sixty two point nine million two thousand and eight and the total funding request for two thousand nine hundred seventy seven point four million and one hundred three point two million you know that's a lot of money and it seems to me that in a clue in addition to diplomacy mr chairman we ought to be talking about that maybe putting a hold on some of this money until they change things i mean we had before this committee i think when i was chairman or you were ranking women from down under we talked about women being taken off the streets raped killed left and vacant lots and there wasn't much being done about that i presume a lot of that still going on is that right so that's still going on we've got a government according to what we've heard here and what mr rosenberg put in this is videotape before he died that they were involved the president his wife and others were involved in the murder his murder as well as others and then you've got the prosecutorial staff and the judges that are working with one another to stop justice from being met out and so if we can't do anything we have to bring this to the attention of the congress knew procreation committee and say hey listen we're giving these people lot of money and they want another hundred hundred three point two million next year they're getting seventy seven point four million this year and say you know until we see some manifest changes down there we're going to try to put a hold on part of this you know money talks and baloney walks and i think that might be one of the ways to to to bring about some positive changes if anything well with that if you have any comments i'd like to hear mr vice president i know if you're in a position to say anything because you might get shot next judges and some prosecutors fortunately not all of our justice system shows the signs of corruption well let me interrupt you right there mr president if the president must have enormous power down there and if if if if he is trying to put the kybosh on this quieted down and he has some political sway over the prosecut prosecutors involved in this case or the judges that he may or may not have any thing to do with getting elected or appointed can he keep this thing under wraps keep it under the covers well you're referring to four different political problems in one i would like to set aside the rosenberg case because you cannot argue with that person and i know that there is rosenberg whom i know personally secondly part of the problem mr burton is precisely that the generalized weakness of our institutional we're still running in this regard i think that has worked with competence prosecutors and has found some judges who are willing to do justice work that needs to be done but i mentioned first was fully that there are indeed some judges and some prosecutors and some lawyer offices that are indeed working in conjunction to try to block so what the investigation killed and thrown in vacant lots and everything else and that continues to go on you've got a fellow who accused the president his wife of a of a murder and possibly his own murder and we've had testimony today that there are prosecutors maybe not all and there are judges maybe not all that are trying to block this and with the political climate being way it is right down there and with the them are down there having so much influence in the drug trafficking is there any way that this is going to be handled in a way as are going to be justice and are we supporting a corrupt government down there by sending all of our money and is there any possibility of a segments of civil society are totally excluded and it's by looking underneath and supporting those actors to be able to bring pressure to bear their government accountable provide the beginning of resolution to the kind of challenge that very correctly lay out so i wouldn't argue for stopping funding i would argue for a more comprehensive approach that tries to empower domestic actors who have been traditionally been part of the we understand what what you're talking about what they're up against down there it just seems to me that there ought to be some way to put some pressure on the government to bring about change and if you're talking about civil government or civil society there being able to put pressure on the government bring about change i would like to as a former chairman and as a member of this committee i would like to have your recommendations and i think chairman would as well so that we could take a hard look at them and see if we could implement some of those to bring about some change because we're having a heck of a time right now as  in going after the corruption within the system at the same time some of those within the system were trying to get rid of what remains if you will the stain from drug traffickers so i don't think it's a question of either  but i agree with you that you need to be clear focus on the message and anybody who is as significant power holder whoever it is is blocking that the message from the u s needs to be clear but there's also remember there's been nothing yet mentioned the strengthening of delusions over the years so we need to work with our own congress as well a second set of questions that i think our order is can service in corrupting private and public structures is such a nature that we feel it is a typical transnational effort and that if we don't deal with it through a network there's a lot that's going on in terms of patrols and both the police and the military are involved in the mexican military and police are involved as well in fact mexico provides a lot of interdiction interdiction for guatemala so there is cooperation the question is how much is there is it enough to attack the problem and it really isn't because it's a resource question when you look at traffickers that are so well off that they're able to operate jets and t ships out in the pacific ocean and then transfer cargoes that way you've got quite a problem and it soaks up resources for a country like that as a five billion dollars national budget which the police get i think about one hundred million dollars in the military gets about one hundred fifty million so what they have to do to even begin to approach the problem is they go back to their congress and they say how much money can you raise in taxes and they're hearing from their constituents that they don't want to do that there has to be a meeting of the minds a consensus to begin to attack problems like this otherwise you're going to be overwhelmed the other thing is as we've seen with colombia  we withdrew and i know it's frustrating because there aren't many tools to deal with this but we withdrew from colombia in terms of engagement in the mid one nine hundred ninety s and then we had to come on back strong in one thousand nine hundred ninety two thousand with  to be able to use an interdiction it's got a long coastline very little coast guard capability a lot of the air traffic comes over believe they can't do anything about it and it goes right into guatemala and then you've got to honduras  you've got to it's got the g d p of about fort collins colorado to deal with this you've got to el salvador they're doing a little bit better but again they're hard pressed to take care of the situation in their own country so it is a matter of resources and when we're talking about that we're not even getting into the other question which is just as important and that is administration of justice  is that the plan colombia model of comprehensive assistance seems to work a lot better than something that is just silver bullet here silver bullet thank you very much thank you i would say that has two additional benefits one is a more institutional version of reform that goes beyond structuring the roles of the institution in light of what we learn from prosecution of wrongdoing and the third we have a long history of dealing with conditions in latin america not only towards packages but in other kinds of policies mr green dollars but know how in terms of the training of a new type of law enforcement people the training of a new type of army sometimes military but if we went past the military and went directly to local law enforcement maybe those same conditions wouldn't apply except oversight over that and so thank you thank you thank you mr greene mr pa thank you very much chairman for a call this very important hearing and certainly interesting listening to the witnesses i just have a question in the write up we got from congressional research service mention that you know guatemala has one the highest murder rates in latin america that by the end of two thousand and  even though the rate of murder decrease in the first three months of colognes ten year that that the murder rate in two thousand and eight increased by eight point three percent and in two thousand and nine fifteen percent above that however we did know that the election of the current president that was more of a person why do you feel there's been an increase think it's because of the drug cartel opposition to the current government anybody have a fix on what be attributed to signed indeed investigated enough to go to court and just one percent of those ever merit a sanction so what the modern society has grown accustomed wellbeing or the resources they need or if you have look through the demographics of what that model in which seventy percent of the population out of thirteen million inhabitants are below thirty years of age it's an extremely young country a quarter of a million youngsters gold to the labor market every year the economy see whatever we can do to assist the situation thank you mr payne let me let me ask one last question which doesn't have much to do with everything we've talked about i think we've covered all the important issues very very quickly government in a country in which the indigenous majority has often been excluded from the political mainstream of course was referring to that president lived up to his promise and what more needs to be done we find that we we have this problem in many of the countries in the hemisphere where the indigenous population is pushed aside and taken for granted and not in the political mainstream at all  people in my but go beyond the face i think it's important to open up options of voice and the thinking of those communities and we have a enormous baggage of cultural and deep rooted religious thinking in those communities that we have to learn from  perhaps part of the division and part of the different sharper i mean that have existed could be bridged rather easily if we started looking at it from a different perspective mr chairman it would look local government more than half of the mayors of the country are from indigenous origin so it's just a matter of thank you very much we'll let that be the last word from the panel i just want to say first i want to thank all four of you for a very excellent testimony and you know i've been doing this for a while now and i am really struck by the fact that there was virtually no disagreement among the four of you will be here and there but not really and i think that's big volumes for you know what really needs to be done in guatemala  the purpose of this hearing for the subcommittee to to obviously find out and explore and have expert witnesses come and tell us what they think but it seems to me that we pretty much know what the albums are and what really could or should be done to get at the problems and i just was very taken by the fact that all of you not only contributed but all really were in agreement so i think that this was a very good step and in letting the congress see the problem with guatemala obviously we haven't had hearings for each country in the hemisphere and the fact that we we singled out guatemala we did it because we know it's important we know that while we are on the northern border of mexico they are on the southern border of mexico and therefore we know that what happens in guatemala affects the united states there's no way that we can put our head in the sand and pretend that it's over there and doesn't affect us and it doesn't touch our borders of therefore you know we can think about it is something that is far away it is not far away and i think you you all made that very very clear and  need to do something about it and i hope that the administration will take heed and we will be working with them to coordinate policy u s policy for the region i think the witnesses for excellent testimony and the