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guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo accepted the resignations of three top security officials on Wednesday as the fallout continued following Sunday’s admission that 20 gang members had escaped from prison.
The prisoners, all members of the Barrio 18 gang, had apparently escaped over a period of a few days, perhaps while visiting family, and their escape was not discovered until the prisoners were recounted.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, his deputy overseeing the drug fight and his deputy overseeing the prison system all resigned.
“What has happened in the penitentiary system is unacceptable,” Arévalo said at a news conference. “The escape from justice of 20 dangerous criminals is not a simple operational failure, it is a serious crime against every good Guatemalan who trusts that the state will do its duty to protect them.”
The escape came just weeks after the US government designated Barrio 18 a foreign terrorist organization at the request of the Guatemalan government.
Barrio 18, based primarily El SalvadorGuatemala and hondurasOriginated as a street gang in the United States los angeles Created by young Salvadoran immigrants as a way to keep themselves safe. The gang expanded and gained power when many of their members were deported from the US to El Salvador. Central AmericaWhere it continues to terrorize communities.
Arévalo also announced Wednesday that his administration will build a new maximum security prison to hold 2,000 inmates and that it will be ready within 12 months. A new census of the prison population will also be conducted.
On Tuesday night, Guatemalan lawmakers proposed changing various laws to give the government more tools against gangs, including increasing prison sentences for gang members accused of extortion. It would also create the crime of illicit enrichment through extortion.