Guatemala: Poll finds 60% support “social cleansing”

Reuters discusses a recent poll:

Almost 6,000 people were killed last year in the poor Central American nation, a drug-smuggling corridor to the United States that is troubled by violent youth street gangs. Over 98 percent of murders in 2006 were unsolved.

Security has become a major issue in the September presidential election with a retired general running who is second in the polls promising to use army tactics to combat crime.

A poll published by the respected Siglo XXI newspaper found 60 percent of those surveyed supported “social cleansing” to stamp out criminals — a term referring to extrajudicial murders of criminals by police or vigilante groups.

The poll also found that 55 percent of respondents support the death penalty as punishment for serious crimes.

The full story has more, and today’s Siglo XXI includes reactions.

The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions visited Guatemala last year, and published a report that discussed social cleansing and made a number of recommendations on how to stop it.