A presidential candidate in Guatemala has been arrested in Miami on drug charges.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman says Mario Amilcar Estrada Orellana promised to let a drug cartel use Guatemalan ports and airports.
He says Estrada and a second defendant also conspired to try to arrange the assassinations of political rivals. Estrada was arrested Wednesday in Miami along with fellow defendant Juan Pablo Gonzalez Mayorga.
Both were charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and a related weapons offense.
It was unclear who will represent them when the men appear before a federal magistrate in Miami on Thursday.
Berman credited the Drug Enforcement Agency with using confidential sources to convince Estrada and Gonzalez that they were dealing with members of a powerful Mexico-based drug cartel.
