Guatemala Urges El Salvador to End Anti-Tourism Campaign

Guatemalan President Oscar Berger has just asked his Salvadoran counterpart, Antonio Saca, to do everything within his power to halt a campaign aimed at hyping violence in Guatemala, a situation that’s making a cleft in the local travel industry.

Sources close to the presidency said Mr. Berger talked to Mr. Saca on the need to persuade Salvadoran businesspeople and victims of robberies committed in Guatemala to stop helping advertisement companies set up billboards that warn motorists not to drive down Guatemalan roads to avoid criminal actions against them.

“Leave thieves out of job; don’t drive to Guatemala,” reads one of the

roadside billboards on a highway connecting El Salvador with the neighboring country.

Guatemalan authorities are concerned the ongoing crusade against crime in El Salvador could cause a dramatic decline in the number of tourists from that nation that usually pick Guatemala to spend the holiday season and Holy Week celebrations. More than half a million Salvadorans –a new record high- visited Guatemala this year alone.

“I told Mr. Saca that we Guatemalans are hurt because that message is way too harsh. He sees eye to eye with me and he’s ready to talk with the group that sponsored the bills about that issue, even though he’s had problems with it in the past,” President Berger told members of the local press.

In addition to putting a damper on Guatemalan tourism, the Salvadoran campaign is also throwing a wrench into efforts to pull off economic integration in Central America, especially in terms of customs and border regulations.

Several Salvadoran travelers have been mugged on Guatemalan roads in recent months, a situation that prompted a number of local newspapers to kick off an aggressive campaign to talk fellow citizens out of driving to Guatemala.

Police investigators are convinced most heists are conducted by Salvadoran juvenile gangs operating in Guatemalan territory.