A sharp rise in the sale of semiautomatic firearms to Guatelama over the last three years has made the Central American country the leading destination for US guns in Latin America as it struggles with renewed political instability in the buildup to a critical presidential election run-off.
According to a new report in Bloomberg, Guatemala’s new status as the largest importer of US semiautomatic weapons has coincided with a surge in violence in the country: its murder rate began increasing again in 2019 after a sustained, years-long decline and waves of migrants are pushing north into Mexico and the US.
