Crime landscape and the cost of operating in Guatemala

The dossier's short answer: the homicide rate is running at 16-17 per 100,000 (16.1 in 2024, 17.4 in 2025 according to the national police (PNC) and InSight Crime; 16.3 annualized in June 2026 according to CIEN), a fraction of the 45.7 peak of 2009; kidnapping is marginal (9 cases in 2024); extortion is the crime that defines the cost of operating (24,978 complaints in 2024, +38%); and container-truck theft was a real crisis in 2023 and early 2024 (up to 200 thefts a month according to the private sector) which, according to PNC statistics cited in the same report, fell to about 2 a month after a public-private working group brought in GPS, escorts and coordinated pursuit — a fall that comes with a change of source and must not be published without explaining it. There is a regulated private security industry: 275 authorized entities and 19,977 agents with valid credentials (July 2026). The highest-risk corridor for cargo is the Pacific route (49% of large-scale hold-ups), not the CA-9 to the Atlantic, although the CA-9 is the most dangerous for road accidents.

The research is written in English; quoted figures, source names and the titles of legal instruments stay in the language their source published them in.