Three leading candidates for Guatemala's presidency sparred over policy proposals, but unanimously slammed the country's security situation in a debate co-hosted by CNN en Español Thursday night.
The Central American nation faces high levels of violence coupled with widespread corruption, the candidates said.
A complicated combination of factors fuel the problems, candidates told audience members at the debate, which was co-hosted by CNN affiliate Canal 3.
"There are no job opportunities," candidate Eduardo Suger said. "There is an absence of an effective justice system, an effective penitentiary system. There are external components, the flow of drug trafficking plus the internal factors of unemployment and the absence of opportunities."
But candidates differed sharply on the best ways to confront rising drug violence and the expanding grasp of organized crime.
Candidate Manuel Baldizon proposed creating a new national guard to take the lead on fighting drug syndicates that he said were increasingly coming across Guatemala's border with Mexico.
Suger disputed that approach, arguing that existing police must develop more sophisticated operations.
"The population cannot wait ... years would go by before anything happened," he said.
Candidate Otto Perez Molina called for a "firm-handed" approach, calling for "elite units of the army" to play a larger role.
Guatemalans head to the polls September 11.
commentÑ i think tha otto perez molina havea good plan for beating the violence on gauutemala, and the others are just tying to guet him off but he would win