Soldiers in armored personnel carriers are patrolling Guatemala's streets to quash a wave of kidnappings, violent deaths and torture - crimes which many blame on former military officers and police.
President Alvaro Arzu says the increase in crime is at least partly due to his efforts to improve Guatemala's human rights record and clean up its notoriously corrupt army and police forces.Since he took office two months ago, police have reported more than 50 cases of kidnapping, 600 car thefts and an average of eight murders a day.
Those cases prompted Leonardo Franco, who directs the U.N. human rights monitoring mission, to note "it appears all the demons in Guatemala have been unleashed."
In a recent interview, Arzu acknowledged that crime surged after he took office Jan. 14, and again after his government purged key members of the military high command and 118 police officers, some suspected of links to organized crime.
"It is difficult to determine which event prompted an increase in violence, but definitely the day after the change of power, violence escalated immediately and is continuing," Arzu said.
"It is also difficult to attribute it exclusively to the (military) changes, but undoubtedly is related in part," Arzu said.
In a stinging report released earlier this week, the U.N. mission blamed much of violence and ongoing human rights abuses on state security members.
The mission reported an increase in death threats directed against government investigators and judges, "especially when the alleged participation of police or military is under investigation."
Still, Arzu's forces are making headway.
Last week, a member of the police anti-kidnapping squad was himself charged with kidnapping, and police arrested a army reservist charged with the November 1995 torture and murder of Mexican U.N. employee Lucinda Car-de-nas.
Last week, investigators searched the home of Col. Mario Salvador Lopez Serrano, a commander accused of human rights abuses, and said they found a stolen car and a motorbike.
Over the weekend, a military lieutenant and captain were arrested for possession of a stolen car, which they said had been purchased.
Arzu says he is taking measures to put criminals behind bars even if they are part of the armed forces, once essentially untouchable.
"During my government the law will be the same for everyone without exception," he said. "Transgressors will be punished."
Guatemala's high crime level may have continued for so long because few people serve time for their offenses.
Bar, restaurant and nightclub owners in the capital complain business is off this year, with people afraid to venture out at night.
"If they come at all, they eat quickly, so as they can get home earlier because they are scared," said Cesar Samayoa, who operates a Guatemala City restaurant.
Although joint military and police operations have had some success in fighting crime, Guatemalans remain skeptical of less-than-drastic measures.
"Unless the existing death penalty is put into action for kidnapping, people will not change," said high school teacher Thelma Lopez, whose father was kidnapped 22 years ago and hasn't been seen since.