Guatemala's president accepts resignations of top security officials after gang escape

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GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo accepted the resignations of three top security officials Wednesday as the fallout from Sunday’s admission that 20 gang members had escaped from prison continued.

The prisoners, all members of the Barrio 18 gang, had apparently escaped over a period of days, perhaps during family visits, and it wasn’t until a recount of prisoners was made that their escape was discovered.

On Wednesday, Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez, his deputy overseeing combating drugs and his deputy overseeing the prison system all resigned.

“What has occurred in the penitentiary system is unacceptable,” Arévalo said in a news conference. “The escape from justice by 20 dangerous criminals is not a simple operational failure, it is a serious offense against every good Guatemalan who trusts that the state will carry out its duty to protect them.”

The escape came just weeks after the U.S. government designated Barrio 18 a foreign terrorist organization at the urging of the Guatemalan government.

Barrio 18, largely based in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, originated in the United States as a street gang in Los Angeles created by young Salvadoran immigrants as a way to protect themselves. When many of their members were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador, the gang expanded and gained power across Central America, where it continues to terrorize communities.

Arévalo also announced Wednesday that his administration would build a new maximum security prison to hold 2,000 prisoners and have it ready in 12 months. A new census of the prison population will also be carried out.

On Tuesday night, Guatemalan lawmakers advanced a proposal to change various laws to give the government more tools against gangs, including increasing prison sentences for extortion for gang members. It would also create the crime of illegal enrichment through extortion.