NYTIMES/ President Álvaro Colom wants to turn the huge Maya Biosphere Reserve, in the Peten region into a major eco-tourism destination but needs to bring the law here first. The reserve is the size of New Jersey, about a fifth of Guatemala, and includes four national parks, the reserve houses diverse ecosystems with niches for jaguars, spider monkeys and scarlet macaws. “Organized crime and drug traffickers have usurped large swaths of protected land amid a vacuum left by the state, and are creating de facto ranching areas,” said region governor Rudel Álvarez. “We must get rid of them to really have conservation.” (Foto of Tikal)
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