Guatemala

• tropical;
• hot, humid in lowlands;
• cooler in highlands

total:

2.01 cu km/yr (6%/13%/80%)

per capita:

160 cu m/yr (2000)

• deforestation in the Peten rainforest;
• soil erosion;
• water pollution

party to:

Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.94 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.86 male(s)/female

total population:

0.97 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

degree of risk:

high

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne disease:

dengue fever and malaria

water contact disease:

leptospirosis (2009)

noun:

Guatemalan(s)

adjective:

Guatemalan

conventional long form:

Republic of Guatemala

conventional short form:

Guatemala

local long form:

Republica de Guatemala

local short form:

Guatemala

name:

Guatemala City

geographic coordinates:

14 37 N, 90 31 W

time difference:

UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

• +1hr, begins last Sunday in April;
• ends last Friday in September;
• note - there is no DST planned for 2007-2009

• 22 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento);
• Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Chimaltenango, Chiquimula, El Progreso, Escuintla, Guatemala, Huehuetenango, Izabal, Jalapa, Jutiapa, Peten, Quetzaltenango, Quiche, Retalhuleu, Sacatepequez, San Marcos, Santa Rosa, Solola, Suchitepequez, Totonicapan, Zacapa

• 31 May 1985, effective 14 January 1986;
• suspended 25 May 1993;
• reinstated 5 June 1993;
• amended November 1993

• civil law system;
• judicial review of legislative acts;
• has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

• 18 years of age;
• universal;
• note - active duty members of the armed forces may not vote and are restricted to their barracks on election day

chief of state:

• President Alvaro COLOM Caballeros (since 14 January 2008);
• Vice President Jose Rafael ESPADA (since 14 January 2008);
• note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Alvaro COLOM Caballeros (since 14 January 2008); Vice President Jose Rafael ESPADA (since 14 January 2008)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the president

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a four-year term (may not serve consecutive terms);
• election last held 9 September 2007;
• runoff held 4 November 2007 (next to be held September 2011)

election results:

Alvaro COLOM Caballeros elected president; percent of vote - Alvaro COLOM Caballeros 52.8%, Otto PEREZ Molina 47.2%

• Constitutional Court or Corte de Constitucionalidad is Guatemala's highest court (five judges are elected for concurrent five-year terms);
• Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (13 members serve concurrent five-year terms and elect a president of the Court each year from among their number; the president of the Supreme Court of Justice also supervises trial judges around the country, who are named to five-year terms)

• Agrarian Owners Group or UNAGRO;
• Alliance Against Impunity or AAI;
• Committee for Campesino Unity or CUC;
• Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial, and Financial Associations or CACIF;
• Mutual Support Group or GAM

chief of mission:

Ambassador Francisco VILLAGRAN de Leon

chancery:

2220 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 745-4952

FAX:

[1] (202) 745-1908

consulate(s) general:

Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Providence, San Francisco

chief of mission:

Ambassador Stephen G. MCFARLAND

embassy:

7-01 Avenida Reforma, Zone 10, Guatemala City

mailing address:

APO AA 34024

telephone:

[502] 2326-4000

FAX:

[502] 2326-4654

• three equal vertical bands of light blue (hoist side), white, and light blue, with the coat of arms centered in the white band;
• the coat of arms includes a green and red quetzal (the national bird) and a scroll bearing the inscription LIBERTAD 15 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 1821 (the original date of independence from Spain) all superimposed on a pair of crossed rifles and a pair of crossed swords and framed by a wreath

agriculture:

50%

industry:

15%

services:

35% (1999 est.)

lowest 10%:

1.3%

highest 10%:

42.4% (2006)

general assessment:

fairly modern network centered in the city of Guatemala

domestic:

• state-owned telecommunications company privatized in the late 1990s opening the way for competition;
• fixed-line teledensity 11 per 100 persons;
• fixed-line investments are being concentrated on improving rural connectivity;
• mobile-cellular teledensity exceeds 100 per 100 persons

international:

• country code - 502;
• landing point for both the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) and the SAM-1 fiber optic submarine cable system that together provide connectivity to South and Central America, parts of the Caribbean, and the US;
• connected to Central American Microwave System;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2008)

total:

332 km

country comparison to the world: 120

narrow gauge:

332 km 0.914-m gauge (2008)

total:

14,095 km

country comparison to the world: 124

paved:

4,863 km (includes 75 km of expressways)

unpaved:

9,232 km (2000)

• all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 50 are liable for military service;
• conscript service obligation varies from 12 to 24 months;
• women can serve as officers (2008)

males age 16-49:

2,861,696

females age 16-49:

3,062,967 (2008 est.)

males age 16-49:

2,401,297

females age 16-49:

2,725,572 (2009 est.)

male:

165,910

female:

163,760 (2009 est.)

• annual ministerial meetings under the OAS-initiated Agreement on the Framework for Negotiations and Confidence Building Measures continue to address Guatemalan land and maritime claims in Belize and the Caribbean Sea;
• the Line of Adjacency created under the 2002 Differendum serves in lieu of the contiguous international boundary to control squatting in the sparsely inhabited rain forests of Belize's border region;
• Mexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross the porous border looking for work in Mexico and the United States

current situation:

• Guatemala is a source, transit, and destination country for Guatemalans and Central Americans trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor;
• human trafficking is a significant and growing problem in the country;
• Guatemalan women and children are trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation, primarily to Mexico and the United States;
• Guatemalan men, women, and children are also trafficked within the country, and to Mexico and the United States, for forced labor

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List - for a second consecutive year, Guatemala is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, particularly with respect to ensuring that trafficking offenders are appropriately prosecuted for their crimes;
• while prosecutors initiated trafficking prosecutions, they continued to face problems in court with application of Guatemala's comprehensive anti-trafficking law;
• the government made modest improvements to its protection efforts, but assistance remained inadequate overall in 2007 (2008)

• major transit country for cocaine and heroin;
• in 2005, cultivated 100 hectares of opium poppy after reemerging as a potential source of opium in 2004;
• potential production of less than 1 metric ton of pure heroin;
• marijuana cultivation for mostly domestic consumption;
• proximity to Mexico makes Guatemala a major staging area for drugs (particularly for cocaine);
• money laundering is a serious problem;
• corruption is a major problem