The head of the Ministry of the Interior (Mingob), Francisco Jiménez, confirms that the wave of crime that occurs in some areas of municipalities such as Mixco, Villa Nueva, San José Pinula and Guatemala City, is related to the crime of two leaders of the Barrio 18 gang on April 9 inside the Fraijanes II prison.
The crime of José Daniel Galindo Meda, alias Criminaland Luis Humberto García Díaz, alias Strong inside the Fraijanes 2 prison, where they had been transferred from the Preventive Zone 18 on May 31, 2023, has unleashed a rearrangement within the clique Little Psycho Criminal (LPC) from Barrio 18, according to the head of Mingob.
This clique, according to official information, began its criminal operations with robbery and extortion, however, it evolved and expanded its actions to hitmen, sexual assaults and dismemberment of bodies. Its main leaders from prison were Galindo Meda and García Díaz.
The authorities classify this clique as “one of the bloodiest in Barrio 18,” and that its center of operations was in the Carolingia neighborhood, zone 6 of Mixco, and other nearby communities, but it has spread to other municipalities in the area. department of Guatemala, Sacatepéquez, Escuintla, Suchitepéquez and Chimaltenango.
According to the head of the Interior portfolio, “so far we have the hypothesis that the violent events in the last 48 hours have resulted from the violent death of Galindo Meda, alias Criminaland García Díaz, alias Strong, inside Fraijanes 2.
The minister supports this theory in the places where the bodies have appeared in the last hours – from April 16 to 18 – and in the way they were left wrapped in sheets and with manuscripts with threats to gang members from rival cliques.
“We believe, according to the criminal intelligence analysis, that this is a rearrangement of the clique. It is something internal to Barrio 18,” she says.
With the Mara Salvatrucha, Jiménez adds, for now, they have no problems, but he expresses that they are concerned that they might use this crisis in Barrio 18 to occupy territories. “That would generate a lot of violence and we work to avoid it,” he says.
Jiménez states that “this imbalance within Barrio 18 had not occurred before. “Criminal groups are territorial and make pacts, but something happened and we investigated it to stop this criminal wave,” he explained.
“Violence will probably continue, but we are not going to dwell on that issue. The objective is to work to end this threat,” he says.
The PNC investigations also indicate that the leaders imprisoned in the pretrial detention center of zone 18, Fraijanes 2, El Boquerón and El Infiernito, have reacted with violence to the constant searches organized by the Public Ministry and the Mingob.
Jiménez assures that they will continue with these efforts, because this “has allowed them to reduce the amount of extortion on the streets.”
“We will try to acquire scanners to prevent weapons, cell phones and other illegal objects from being brought into the prisons,” he explains.
In July 2023, Galindo Meda and García Díaz were isolated in Fraijanes 2 because the authorities involved them in collecting extortion from prison, as well as ordering hitmen to commit crimes once morest particular people.
One of these cases, which is under investigation, would be that of prosecutor Miriam Aida Reguero Sosa on March 27 in zone 9 of the capital. In this event, her mother and an element of her personal security died.
Gustavo Adolfo Pirir García, alias Hammer; Eulogio Onelio Orozco Escobar, alias Spawnand Rudy Francisco Alfaro Orozco, Smurfare other members of Barrio 18 who shared a cell with the two murdered gang members.
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