VZCZCXYZ0009
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #1442/01 3240702
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190702Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6482

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001442 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR PM/DTCC- BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EETC KOMC GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA: BLUE LANTERN RESPONSE FOR LICENSES 
050127380 AND 050127568 
 
REF: A. STATE 119150 
     ¶B. 03 GUATEMALA 2501 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In response to reftel A, PolMil Officer 
researched the bona fides of the arms import company Mainly 
SA, formerly known as Santa Catarina SA.  The research 
included an on-site inspection of Mainly SA, interviews with 
the company's owners, and records checks of both company and 
owners with the DECAM.  As a result of the investigation Post 
does not recommend approval of reftel licenses.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On November 13, PolMil Officer conducted an on-site 
inspection of Mainly SA, formerly known as Santa Catarina SA 
located at Avenida Petapa 7-78, Zone 12, Guatemala City. 
Both owners, Oscar Miron, and his son Oscar Danilo Miron were 
present and cooperative but not fully truthful during the 
interview.  Mainly SA is located in the back of an automotive 
repair store specializing in break repair named Tornos Miron. 
 There are no signs advertising Mainly SA and the company 
does not have a separate office space or phone line.  Current 
 DECAM (Guatemala's Arms and Munitions Control Department) 
regulations state that an arms dealership cannot be 
collocated with another business, but Mainly SA was 
incorporated before that regulation came into effect, so is 
able to share space with the other company. 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to Danilo Miron, Tornos Miron is a family 
business that has operated from its present locale since 
¶1976.  He stated that Santa Catarina SA was started in 1993 
and discontinued in 2002 when Mainly SA was created.  When 
asked why the old company was discontinued and the new 
company started, Miron stated that the first company listed 
himself, his father and his brother as the owners and the 
change was made to remove his brother from the company.  This 
was essentially the same implausible reason given during the 
prior blue lantern interview reported in reftel b, but he 
also added that the change was necessary due to problems the 
company had at the time with a corrupt member of DECAM. 
Miron claimed that an officer in DECAM demanded a bribe and 
after Santa Catarina refused to pay he "began to make trouble 
for us."  Miron said that changing the name of the company 
was a way to avoid problems with the corrupt official, whom 
he declined to name.  This vague, and thus unverifiable, 
claim is made even less credible by the fact that the ECON 
FSN who participated in the 2003 interview is certain that 
this reason was not mentioned during the 2003 interview. 
Miron would not elaborate on his problems with DECAM in 2002 
and repeated his claim that closing Santa Catarina SA was a 
decision taken by the company not mandated by DECAM.  He also 
claimed that since the corrupt DECAM official was removed his 
company has had no further problems with DECAM.  DECAM 
records confirm reftel b reporting that DECAM revoked Santa 
Catarina SA's operating license due to major infractions. 
Miron's failure to candidly discuss problems surrounding 
Santa Catarina SA's closure calls into question his comments 
about Mainly SA. 
 
¶4. (SBU) According to DECAM's records, Santa Catarina SA was 
closed as a result of two infractions that occurred in 2002, 
which DECAM classified as "grave."  During a routine 
inspection DECAM discovered that invoicing information on 
52,400 rounds of ammunition had been altered, indicating that 
the ammunition may have been diverted to an unknown 
recipient.  In a subsequent inspection DECAM discovered 5,400 
rounds of ammunition in Santa Catarina SA's inventory that 
was not carried on its books, usually an indication that the 
company was selling black market ammunition.  DECAM's records 
also indicate that Mainly SA has been cited with six 
infractions DECAM classified as "minor" since 2006.  Some of 
the infractions are indications of poor bookkeeping, but five 
are related to a failure to properly identify the purchaser 
of ammunition.  (Comment: While none of the recent 
infractions are considered major, six infractions in three 
years is well above industry standard and the fact that 
Danilo Miron stated his company had been infraction-free is 
troubling. End Comment.) 
 
¶5. (SBU) Miron described Mainly SA as a weapon and ammunition 
wholesaler.  He stated that he imports shotguns from Turkey 
and the U.S., and ammunition from a variety of countries.  He 
offered that 99.5 percent of his sales are to retail gun 
dealers.  As a result Mainly SA's books are of no use 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 of arms imported by Mainly 
SA, PolMil Officer would need to inspect the records of the 
retail outlets that ultimately sell the weapons.  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 Mainly SA imports weapons solely for the 
purpose of brokering the weapons to other arms dealers.  The 
business model followed by Mainly SA appears to be legal 
under Guatemalan law, but these transactions greatly 
complicate efforts to determine the actual end-users.  One 
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 Mainly SA. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Mainly SA has two rooms that have been converted 
into weapons storage areas.  Both rooms (one a converted 
bathroom) have had the windows bricked up and standard motion 
detectors installed.  The rooms do not contain gun safes, 
which means that weapons are simply stored on the floor.  The 
facility is guarded 24-hours a day and the building's alarm 
system includes 24-hour response from a private security 
company.  According to DECAM's Director, Colonel David 
Barrientos, Mainly's security precautions meet DECAM's 
minimum standards, but the security of the facility was well 
below average. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Conclusion: Mainly SA is a medium scale arms 
wholesale company that, although technically a separate 
business, is a branch of the owner's auto repair enterprise. 
Mainly SA is licensed to operate by DECAM and its weapons 
storage area meets minimum local standards.  However, Mainly 
SA has no sales room and no plans to begin marketing weapons 
to the general public, but rather sells the weapons in bulk 
to other gun dealers, greatly complicating end use monitoring 
and accountability efforts.  Furthermore, the owners 
continued to misrepresent past problems with DECAM, and have 
a recent track record that indicates sloppy bookkeeping 
practices.  Due to the reasons stated above, post cannot 
recommend approval of import licenses 050127380 and 050127568. 
McFarland