News
Guatemala leader advocates drug legalization, warns traffickers
Posted: Sep 25, 2012 4:13 PM by Joe Bevans
Updated: Sep 25, 2012 4:27 PM
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Guatemala's leader is urging nations to legalize drugs. And at the same time he's ramping up military efforts to combat traffickers, with U.S. help.
President Otto Perez Molina says there's no contradiction. The former general tells The Associated Press that it would take time and extensive international cooperation to legalize and regulate drugs.
In the meantime, he says he has to fight violent criminal gangs who have moved into his country.
He says he "is not going to let Guatemala become an open corridor for trafficking and consuming drugs."
Perez Molina spoke to the AP on Tuesday, a day before his scheduled address to the U.N. General Assembly.
As Seen On News 5
