Título Primero. Disposiciones generales

This Law has as its object to establish the criminal conducts attributable to the members and/or participants of criminal organizations; the establishment and regulation of the special methods of investigation and criminal prosecution as well as all those measures for the purpose of preventing, combating, dismantling and eradicating organized crime in accordance with the provisions of the Political Constitution of the Republic, the international treaties signed and ratified by Guatemala, and ordinary laws.

For purposes of this Law, an organized criminal group or criminal organization shall mean any structured group of three or more persons, which exists for a certain time and acts in concert, for the purpose of committing one or more of the following crimes:

a)Those contained in the Law Against Drug Trafficking Activity: international transit; sowing and cultivation; manufacture or transformation; illicit commerce, trafficking and storage; promotion and encouragement; facilitation of means; alteration; illicit sale; prescription or supply; illicit transactions and investments; facilitation of means; criminal associations; procurement of impunity or evasion;

b)Those contained in the Law Against Money Laundering or Other Assets: money laundering or other assets;

c)Those contained in the Migration Law: illicit trafficking in persons, illicit facilitation of stay, illicit facilitation of foreign migrant workers and illegal trafficking of Guatemalans and related crimes.

d)Those contained in the Law to Prevent and Punish the Financing of Terrorism: financing of terrorism and movement of money;

e)Those contained in the Criminal Code:

e.1) Embezzlement, embezzlement by subtraction, negligent embezzlement, misappropriation, extortion by a public official (concusión), fraud, collusion, prevarication, passive bribery, active bribery, transnational active bribery, transnational passive bribery, illegal collection of commissions, illicit enrichment, illicit enrichment of private individuals, use of front men, illegal exactions, undue collection, destruction of computer records, use of information, abuse of authority, breach of duties, influence peddling, obstruction of criminal prosecution, illegal representation, delay of justice, denial of justice, contained in Decree Number 17-73 of the Congress of the Republic, Criminal Code and its amendments.

e.2) Evasion, cooperation in evasion, negligent evasion;

e.3) Murder, kidnapping, aggravated theft, aggravated robbery, swindle, trafficking in persons;

e.4) Terrorism;

e.5) Financial intermediation, fraudulent bankruptcy, manufacture of counterfeit currency, alteration of currency, introduction of counterfeit or altered currency;

e.6) Disclosure of confidential or reserved information, contained in Decree Number 57-2008, Law on Access to Public Information.

e.7) Theft of fluids, robbery of fluids and attack against the security of public utility services.

f)Those contained in the Law Against Customs Fraud and Smuggling: customs smuggling and customs fraud.

g)Those contained in this Law:

g.1) Conspiracy, illicit association, illegal association of armed persons, training for illicit activities, illegal use of uniforms or insignia, obstruction of justice;

g.2) Commercialization of vehicles and similar items stolen abroad or in the national territory;

g.3) Intimidatory exactions, extortive obstruction of transit.

h)Those contained in the Arms and Ammunition Law.

The foregoing, for the purpose of obtaining, directly or indirectly, an economic benefit or a benefit of any other nature for itself or for a third party.

Structured group shall mean a group not fortuitously formed for the immediate commission of a crime and in which its members have not necessarily been assigned formally defined functions nor there is continuity in membership status nor a developed structure exists.

Whoever agrees with another person or persons for the purpose of committing one or more of the crimes stated in the present article commits the crime of conspiracy. The penalties to be imposed on each person for conspiracy shall be the same as those indicated for the crime conspired, regardless of the penalties assigned to the crimes committed.

The crimes referred to in the first paragraph of this article are the following:

a)Those contained in the Law Against Narcoactivity: international transit; sowing and cultivation; manufacture or transformation; illicit commerce, trafficking and storage; promotion and encouragement; facilitation of means; alteration; illicit sale; prescription or supply; illicit transactions and investments; facilitation of means; criminal associations; procurement of impunity or evasion;

b)Those contained in the Law Against Money Laundering or Other Assets: money laundering or other assets;

c)Those contained in the Migration Law: illicit trafficking in persons, illicit facilitation of stay, illicit facilitation of foreign migrant workers and illegal trafficking of Guatemalans and related crimes.

d)Those contained in the Law to Prevent and Suppress the Financing of Terrorism: financing of terrorism and transfer of money;

e)Those contained in the Penal Code:

e.1) Peculation, misappropriation, concussion, fraud, collusion and prevarication;

e.2) Escape, cooperation in escape, negligent escape;

e.3) Murder, abduction or kidnapping, aggravated theft, aggravated robbery, fraud, trafficking in persons;

e.4) Terrorism;

e.5) Fraudulent bankruptcy, manufacture of counterfeit currency, alteration of currency, introduction of counterfeit or altered currency;

e.6) Adulteration of medicines, production of falsified medicines, falsified pharmaceutical products, medical devices and falsified surgical medical material; distribution and commercialization of falsified medicines, falsified pharmaceutical products, medical devices and falsified surgical medical material; clandestine establishments or laboratories.

e.7) (Added by Article 8 of Decree 8-2023 of the Congress of the Republic). Theft of fluids, robbery of fluids and attack against the security of public utility services.

f)Those contained in the Law Against Customs Fraud and Smuggling: customs smuggling and customs fraud;

g)Those contained in the present Law:

g.1) Illicit association, illegal association of armed people, training for illicit activities, illegal use of uniforms or insignia, obstruction of justice.

g.2) Commercialization of vehicles and similar items stolen abroad or in the national territory;

g.3) Intimidatory exactions, extortive obstruction of traffic.

h)(Added by Article 28 of Decree 49-2008 of the Congress of the Republic). Those contained in laws of a financial nature:

h.1) Financial intermediation;

h.2) Illicit raising of money and illicit intermediation in securities; and,

h.3) Other crimes of a similar nature included in specific laws.

i)The crimes provided for in the Arms and Ammunition Law.

Whoever participates in or joins associations of the following type commits the crime of illicit association:

1.Those whose purpose is to commit any crime or, after being formed, promote its commission; and,

2.Illegal groups of armed people, organized crime or terrorist groups.

This crime shall be sanctioned with a penalty of six to eight years of imprisonment, without prejudice to the penalties assigned to the crimes committed.

Whoever organizes, promotes or belongs to unauthorized groups or associations for the use, training or equipping with weapons commits the crime of illegal association of armed persons. This crime shall be sanctioned with a penalty of six to ten years of imprisonment.

Whoever equips, organizes, instructs or trains persons in military or police tactics, techniques or procedures, for the development of terrorist activities, death squads, private justice groups, bands of hitmen or [persons] intended to execute organized crime actions, commits the crime of training for illicit activities. This crime shall be sanctioned with a penalty of six to eight years of imprisonment.

Whoever, with intent to commit a crime, uses, displays, wears or identifies himself with garments, uniforms or real insignia, similar to or resembling those of the army, police or State security forces, commits the crime of illegal use of uniforms or insignia. This crime shall be sanctioned with a penalty of three to five years of imprisonment.

Whoever knowingly, in any manner, authorizes the entry into the country, sells or commercializes land, maritime, aerial vehicles or machinery that have been stolen abroad or in the national territory commits the crime of commercialization of vehicles and similar items stolen abroad or in the national territory. This crime shall be punished with non-commutable imprisonment of six to twenty years, plus a fine equal to the commercial value of the property that is the subject of the crime.

The crime provided for in this article shall be imputable to legal persons independently of the criminal liability of their owners, directors, managers, administrators, officers, employees and legal representatives, when dealing with acts carried out by their regular organs provided they are within the normal or apparent course or object of their business. In this case, in addition to the sanctions applicable to the responsible persons, a fine of ten thousand (USA $10,000.00) to six hundred twenty-five thousand (USA $625,000.00) United States of America dollars or its equivalent in national currency shall be imposed on the legal person, taking into account the gravity and circumstances in which the crime was committed. In case of recidivism, definitive cancellation of its legal personality shall be ordered.

Likewise, publication of the judgment shall be ordered in at least two of the written social communication media of greatest circulation in the country, at the expense of the sanctioned person.

Commits the crime of obstruction of justice:

a)Whoever uses physical force, threats or intimidation, the promise, the offer or the granting of an economic or other benefit to induce false testimony, perjury or to obstruct the contribution of evidence in proceedings in relation to the commission of one of the crimes covered by this Law.

b)Whoever in any manner threatens or coerces any member of the Judicial Branch, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the National Civil Police, auxiliaries of the administration of justice, translators, interpreters, experts, witnesses and other procedural subjects, his or her spouse or family that affects the physical integrity, honor or property of such persons, in order to influence their conduct or to obstruct the performance of their functions in the investigation and criminal prosecution of the crimes covered by this Law.

c)A private individual, or whoever, being a public official, public servant or public employee, participates in the investigation phase or in the special methods of investigation, prosecution, processing and adjudication of the crimes established in this Law, who:

1)Improperly protects or conceals the person or persons who appear as suspects in an investigated act;

2)Conceals information or delivers erroneous or false information that affects the proper course of the investigation or the proceedings;

3)Falsifies or alters documents and evidentiary means, or destroys them;

4)Acts with intentional delay, in such a way as to obstruct the investigation, the criminal prosecution or the adjudication;

5)Gives false testimony in favor of the suspect or the accused person, in cases arising from the commission of the crimes established in this Law.

The person liable for the crime of obstruction of justice shall be sanctioned with a penalty of six to eight years of imprisonment regardless of the penalties assigned to other crimes committed.

In the case of being a public official or public employee, the penalty of disqualification from holding public employment, office or commission shall also be imposed, for the same term as the penalty of imprisonment imposed.

Whoever, grouped in organized crime, a criminal organization or an illicit association, in open provocation or in an intimidating manner requests or demands the delivery of money or other benefit on a public thoroughfare or in means of transport, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of six to eight years.

Whoever, grouped in organized crime, a criminal organization or an illicit association, in open provocation or in an intimidating manner requests or obtains money or other benefit from drivers of any means of transport for allowing them to circulate on the public roadway, without being legally authorized, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of six to eight years.

For the imposition of the penalties provided for in the Criminal Code for the commission of any of the crimes incurred by members of organized criminal groups, the following rules shall be observed:

a.Whoever has administration, direction or supervision functions within the organized criminal group shall have the penalty increased by one third.

b.If the member of the organized criminal group is a public official or public employee, the penalty shall be increased by one third; and disqualification from holding public office for twice the time of the imprisonment shall be imposed; or if sanctioned with a fine, for the time limit of five years.

c.If the members of organized criminal groups use minors to commit the criminal activities, the penalty shall be increased by one third.

d.If the members of organized criminal groups use persons by taking advantage of power relations exercised over such persons, the penalty shall be increased by one third.

proceedings relating to the crimes referred to in this