Special forces man named Guatemala defence minister

Guatemala's president-elect, Otto Perez, underlined his determination to get tough on violent crime by picking a senior officer of the feared special forces to be defence minister.

Making his final cabinet appointment since winning a Nov. 6 election, retired general Perez appointed Ulises Anzueto, a colonel of the elite Kaibiles troops, to the post.

Perez, a conservative who swept to victory promising to crush street gangs and encroaching Mexican drug cartels, faces an awkward challenge because of the army's reputation for brutality during Guatemala's devastating 36-year civil war.

Anzueto, 52, will work closely with Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez, also a Kaibil, in the fight against crime.

"We are going to have two brigades of military police and two brigades of special forces ... and their top mission is going to be confronting drug traffickers," Anzueto told reporters.

Security experts say cartels and gangs control some 40 percent of Guatemala, a coffee- and sugar-producing nation.

Public anger over crime prompted voters to put aside misgivings about the army and elect Perez, the first military man to rule the country since democracy was restored in 1986.

A U.N.-backed commission said the military was responsible for the vast majority of abuses in the 1960-1996 civil war that led to the deaths or disappearance of nearly 250,000 people.

Though largely respected in Guatemala, some Kaibiles have been lured away by brutal drug gangs with deep pockets like the Zetas cartel. The training regime for the Kaibiles, which Perez himself served in, is reputed to be particularly fearsome.