By Mica Rosenberg JUTIAPA, Guatemala, July 9 (Reuters) - In towns along Guatemala's drug corridor between El Salvador and Mexico, drug traffickers flush with money see this year's elections as a new way to extend their power. According to officials and analysts, drug traffickers are supporting candidates ranging from national lawmakers to first timers in politics, particularly for mayorships in eastern districts close to El Salvador and Honduras. Partly as a result, some 50 people have already been killed in the runup to the Sept. 9 election for president, Congress and mayors across the country. "In the east there are at least four candidates up to their necks in links to the narcos," said Vice President Eduardo Stein of the ruling center-right GANA coalition, which is expected to lose the presidency. Gaining political control over towns in key smuggling areas would allow drug gangs more easily to transport Colombian cocaine through Guatemala to Mexico on its way to the United States. "There are candidates across all political parties, although they want to run for the two parties doing best in the polls, UNE (National Unity for Hope) and the Patriotic Party," said Iduvina Hernandez of the Guatemalan think tank Security in Democracy. A poll published on June 26 in El Periodico, a national newspaper, said 21 percent of voters would choose center-left UNE candidates for Congress, followed by 16 percent for the right-wing Patriotic Party. Some independent candidates are also running for office. Among those who have come under scrutiny is Manuel Castillo, a congressman who is running for mayor of Jutiapa, a bustling town on the border with El Salvador where boots, cowboy hats and pistols in hip holsters give the town a Wild West feel. Castillo, 30, travels with heavily armed bodyguards in a series of bullet-proofed luxury cars, including a Hummer he told local media he bought from Mexican pop star Luis Miguel. Local media have accused Castillo of maintaining links to drug dealers and of employing bodyguards who have worked as hitmen for drug traffickers. Castillo was kicked out of the UNE in 2005 over some of the accusations, but no charges have been brought and he remains in Congress as independent. AMBUSHES, EXPLOSIVES Election watchdogs say drug traffickers' interest in politics led to an increase in pre-campaign violence with over 40 attacks on political candidates last year. "There are ambushes with automatic weapons, explosives, killing of entire groups at once," said Francisco Garcia, part of an election monitoring organization. "It shows there are mafia groups interested in gaining state power." Hernandez estimates that following the elections, over a quarter of lawmakers will have received funding from organized crime and up to 15 percent of those elected will be members of the country's most powerful drug cartels. "In some places where organized crime needs to operate with impunity they will finance candidates," Stein told Reuters. "In addition, they want people directly linked to their criminal organizations to run for office," he said. That is likely to be bad news for the new government in 2008. Guatemala is heavily criticized by the United States for failing to help stop the flow of cocaine from Colombia into U.S. cities. Guatemala, which also grows poppies for heroin, is a major center for money laundering in Central America. Meanwhile, the campaign in Jutiapa is in full swing, with Castillo organizing regular raffles offering cash prizes, pieces of land, horses, pesticides for crops, bicycles and food that will be awarded if he is elected, said local residents. "WHOEVER BEATS ME DIES" Two of his brothers are running for mayor in neighboring municipalities and a close friend, Marvin Zepeda, is a candidate in the nearby district of El Progreso. Rivals accuse Castillo of intimidation tactics. "He goes around saying, "Whoever beats me, dies," said Juan Carlos Rodas, who is running against Castillo for the Patriotic Party. Rodas plans to hide on the day of the vote count. Jose Carlos Marroquin, the spokesman for presidential front runner Alvaro Colom of the UNE, said the party has made a major effort to kick out members with rumored ties to organized crime. But the UNE has paid a heavy price for this zero tolerance stance, says Marroquin. Over a dozen party members have been murdered since March 2006, including an active congressman killed at the party headquarters. Marroquin's two cars were bombed and riddled with bullets in front of his house in Guatemala City last year. "I'm scared," he said. "It's going to be a very bloody election."
