Justice
Amid Bukele government actions, Guatemala arrests 61 Salvadorans in 2024
Arrests of Salvadorans in Guatemala have increased since Nayib Bukele imposed a state of emergency to combat gangs.
Guatemalan security forces have arrested a total of 61 Salvadoran citizens in 2024 for various crimes committed in both countries, official sources said on Monday, August 19.
Of the 61 Salvadorans arrested, 19 are in prison in Guatemala while 42 were “expelled” to their native country, according to data released Monday by the National Civil Police (PNC).
The most recent arrest took place on Monday, according to authorities, with the arrest of Hector Leonidas LM, 30, on charges of rape in El Salvador.
The suspect was arrested in Jutiapa, on the border with El Salvador, on charges filed on November 30, 2023 in his country.
The National Civil Police said that Hector Leonidas was “handed over to Salvadoran authorities to resolve his legal situation” after entering Guatemala illegally.
Arrests of Salvadoran citizens in Guatemala have increased since 2022, the year in which El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, imposed a state of emergency to combat gangs, according to official data.
Last June, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador signed an agreement to cooperate on issues of biometric data management in order to improve the security of the borders shared by the three countries.
The three countries make up the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, a region considered in the last decade to be one of the most violent in the world due to the high homicide rates recorded between 2010 and 2020.
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