VZCZCXYZ0007
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #1282/01 2892018
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 152018Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6253

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001282 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR PM/DTCC- BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC KOMC GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA:  BLUE LANTERN RESPONSE FOR 05122616 AND 
050122547 
 
REF: STATE 100396 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In response to reftel, PolMil Officer 
researched the bona fides of the arms import company 
Importador Aresco.  The research included an on-site 
inspection of Importador Aresco, interviews with the 
company's owners, and records checks of both company and 
owners with the Guatemala's Arms and Municions Control 
Department (DECAM).  As a result of the investigation Post 
does not recommend approval of reftel licenses.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On September 30, PolMil Officer conducted an on-site 
inspection of Importador Aresco located at 19 Calle 22-55, 
Zona 10, Guatemala City, and interviewed the company's 
owners.  Both owners, Gustavo Arango and Carlos Enrique de 
Jesus Lopez, were present and fully cooperative during the 
interview.  Importador Aresco SA is located in the back of a 
wholesale computer supply company also owned by Arango. 
Importador Aresco consists of a reinforced room used for 
weapons storage and a small entry room containing an empty 
desk, one chair, and a DECAM poster.  There are no signs 
publicizing the business, and PolMil Officer had to ask 
directions from the private security guard posted at the 
entrance to the property.  To comply with local regulations 
Importador Aresco SA does not share common ingress and egress 
points with the much larger computer supply store that 
occupies the same building, and thus is considered a separate 
business, but the interview took place in the computer supply 
store. 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to Arango, he started the computer 
wholesale business in 1999 and Importador Aresco in 2004. 
Arango stated that just like his computer wholesale business, 
his business model for Importador Aresco is the importation 
and wholesale of weapons to other vendors.  Neither of his 
businesses has a sales floor, show room, or conducts 
advertising.  To date Importador Aresco has imported handguns 
from Argentina in addition to 100 handguns and 175 .22 rifles 
from the United States.  The interview was open and candid 
and PolMil Officer was granted access to the company's 
records and facility.  Upon examination of the 
DECAM-certified weapon inventory log it became apparent that 
Importador Aresco sold 137 .22 caliber rifles (including the 
entire last shipment of 100) to arms dealer Leonel Alvarez, 
who operates three gun stores in the Department of 
Huehuetenango.  The remainder of the .22 caliber rifles were 
sold to other arms dealers, or in some cases to arms dealers 
from remote departments serving as middle men for 
pre-identified private customers. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Importador Aresco's books were in good order, but 
useless from an end-user perspective as the actual end 
recipients of the arms are not listed.  To determine the bona 
fides of the majority of the actual recipients PolMil Officer 
would need to inspect the records of the three arms companies 
owned by Alvarez.  In the course of other Blue Lantern 
investigations PolMil Officer has noticed that it is not 
uncommon for companies to sell a portion of weapons imported 
under end user licenses to other arms dealers, but this is 
the first company that as been approved for end user 
licenses for the eplicit purpose of brokering the weapons to 
other arms dealers.  The business model followed by 
Importador Aresco appears to be legal under Guatemalan law, 
but these transactions greatly complicate efforts to 
determine the actual end users.  Of major concern is that 
there is no local procedure in place to prevent an arms 
dealer turned down for a State Department export license from 
purchasing part or all of a weapons shipment imported by 
Importador Aresco. 
QImportador Aresco. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Arango declined to name the potential buyers of the 
200 rifles covered under the pending licenses, but downplayed 
the possibility of selling them to Alvarez.  His assertion 
that he does not seek buyers until he has possession of the 
weapons, and thus cannot provide the names of potential 
buyers, does not jibe well with the speed with which prior 
shipments were sold to other arms dealers according to 
Importador Aresco records.  While there is no evidence that 
Importador Aresco is diverting weapons to companies or 
individuals that have been turned down for export licenses by 
the Department of State, the company's business model is a 
cause for concern. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Aresco describes his company as a "small scale 
importer" and as a result his storage facilities are much 
smaller than other arms dealers that have been inspected by 
PolMil Officer.  The weapons vault is constructed of thick 
cinder block walls with an additional steel grate installed 
on the one wall that is not reinforced.  The vault has one 
standard motion detector aimed at the steel grate, but motion 
 
detectors are not built into the walls, ceiling, and floor to 
detect vibrations.  The vault does not contain gun safes 
which means that weapons are simply stored on book shelves 
constructed against one wall of the vault.  The facility is 
guarded 24-hours a day by one armed guard and the building's 
alarm system includes 24-hour response from a private 
security company.  According to DECAM's Director, Colonel 
David Barrientos, Importador Aresco's security precautions 
meet DECAM's minimum standards, but the security of the 
facility was well below the average toured by PolMil Officer. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: According to Barrientos, Importador Aresco 
was cited in 2006 for minor record keeping infractions, but 
is otherwise in good standing with DECAM.  Barrientos stated 
that Alvarez's three companies in Huuhuetenango have been 
cited with minor records keeping infractions every year since 
2003, as well as reporting the loss of handguns and 
attempting to register a firearm in the name of a deceased 
person.  Barrientos stated that while Leonel Alvarez's 
companies have had regular problems with DECAM, his licenses 
have never been suspended. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Importador Aresco is a small scale arms wholesale 
company that although technically a separate business is a 
branch of the principle owner's computer supply wholesale 
enterprise.  Importador Aresco is in good standing with DECAM 
and its weapons storage area meets minimum local standards. 
However, Importador Aresco has no sales room and has no plans 
to begin marketing handguns to the general public, but rather 
sells the weapons in bulk to other gun dealers.  Importador 
Aresco declined to provide information on the actual weapons 
dealers who will be responsible for the end user sale of the 
requested weapons, so Post was unable to conduct research the 
companies that would eventually conduct the end user 
transfer.  As the admitted purpose of import licenses 
05122616 or 050122547 is to transfer them in bulk to un-named 
weapons dealers Post cannot recommend approve of the reftel 
import licenses. 
 
 
McFarland