Twenty members of a gang designated a “international terrorist group” by the US have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a jail chief stated Sunday.
The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded safety controls” on the Fraijanes II facility, jail director Ludin Godinez stated at a information convention.
He obtained “an intelligence report” Friday warning concerning the “doable escape” from the jail, which is southeast of the capital Guatemala Metropolis.
Godinez stated they had been investigating doable acts of corruption.
Washington final month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a status for violence and extortion, as a part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.
The U.S. embassy in Guatemala condemned the jail escape as “completely unacceptable.”
“America designated members of this heinous group because the terrorists they’re and can maintain accountable anybody who has supplied, gives, or decides to supply materials help to those fugitives or different gang members,” the embassy stated on X.
It referred to as on the Guatemalan authorities to “act instantly and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”
In response to Inside Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, whereas one other 3,000 are in jail.
The nation’s murder charge has elevated from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this yr, greater than double the world common, based on the Heart for Nationwide Financial Analysis.
In response to the Salvadoran authorities, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (higher generally known as MS-13) are answerable for the deaths of about 200,000 folks over three a long time.
The 2 gangs as soon as managed an estimated 80 % of El Salvador, which had one of many highest murder charges on the earth.
Barrio 18 is among the largest gangs within the Northern Hemisphere, the U.S. State Division stated in a information launch final month, including that the international terrorist group fdesignation “additional demonstrates the Trump Administration’s unwavering dedication to dismantling cartels and gangs and making certain the protection of the American folks.”
Greater than a dozen teams have been designated as international terrorist organizations because the begin of President Trump’s second time period. The Trump administration has used the international terrorist designation to justify a number of deadly strikes on boats allegedly carrying medication, together with at the least three off the coast of Venezuela.
