FBI to help Guatemala catch escaped Barrio 18 gang leaders
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Prison guards being held in a Guatemalan prison on Oct 25. They had been detained after 20 leaders of the Barrio 18 gang escaped.
PHOTO: AFP
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GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala’s government announced on Nov 4 that the US would send a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team to help capture gang leaders whose jailbreak has triggered a security crisis in the Central American country.
The local authorities on Oct 12 announced that 20 members of the Barrio 18 gang had broken out of the Fraijanes II prison near Guatemala City, but did not specify when the escape happened.
Only four of the fugitives have been recaptured so far.
Guatemala has now followed Washington’s lead by classifying Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang with a reputation for violence and extortion, as a “terrorist” organisation.
In September, the US government blacklisted Barrio 18 as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.
The US Embassy criticised the escape as “utterly unacceptable”.
It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists”.
After the jailbreak, President Bernardo Arevalo dismissed his Interior Minister, Mr Francisco Jimenez.
He replaced him with Mr Marco Antonio Villeda, who requested the FBI’s assistance in tracking down the escapees.
Mr Villeda told reporters on Nov 4 that the FBI’s Joint Task Force Vulcan would participate in the operation.
The specialised task force was created by US President Donald Trump in 2019, during his first term, with the aim of dismantling Latin American criminal organisations.
It was originally intended to target the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang.
Last week, the Guatemalan Attorney-General’s Office requested that President Arevalo’s immunity be lifted in order to investigate him for “breach of duty” in connection with the escape. AFP
