The Ministry of the Interior identified a group that, according to the main line of investigation, would be linked to acts of alleged social cleansing in Petén, including the attack that occurred in the El Milagro neighborhood San Benito, where five people died.
The Minister of the Interior, Marco Antonio Villeda, reported that the structure is being investigated in coordination with the Public Ministry (MP) and that the authorities hope to obtain results and make arrests in the short term.
“Here the line of investigation leads us to the fact that this is the product of social cleansing associated with a group that is dedicating itself to this type of activities. We have already identified this group, we are investigating it together with the Public Ministry and we hope that in the short term we can have important results and arrests to dismantle these groups that have taken justice into their own hands, which is completely prohibited,” he indicated.
When asked if the group is made up of former military personnel, former police officers or civilians, Villeda avoided revealing details and explained that the investigation is still in progress.
“We have already been investigating them for some time. I cannot give you further details of how it is formed, we are still in that investigation process to completely identify the criminal structure and be able to capture them,” he indicated.
The minister added that, after the attack in San Benito, several pages on social networks spread publications in which the incident was attributed to the group under investigation and it was stated that the victims were motorcycle thieves.
“They attributed this criminal act on several pages, stating that they were motorcycle stealers, that in some way they had already eliminated them. However, no citizen, no group can refuse to administer justice,” he said.
They will rethink security strategy
Villeda reported that the Ministry of the Interior will review the security strategy after on Saturday, July 25, 24 deaths due to homicidal violence will be recorded in the country.
“This was a situation that had not occurred at this level. Throughout the year we have maintained a decrease in the homicide rate, however we must admit that in May we did not have an increase in the homicide rate but we did have an uptick on some specific days as in the month of June,” he added.
He added that they are carrying out an analysis with the Army to focus patrols in areas where more violence is being generated.
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“Us Let’s focus on the heat maps we have and the times where this homicidal violence is being carried out to a greater extent. Accordingly, today – Monday, July 27 – we are going to have a meeting with the Minister of Defense to reinforce the joint operations that we are carrying out with the Army, refocus on the places where this violence is being generated to improve the security conditions of the country in general,” he added.
He added that the authorities detected a shift in violence towards areas where there is less police presence.
“From the operations that we have carried out with the Army through the Plan Sentinela Escuintla and the Plan Sentinela Metropolitano, violence has moved to places where there is less police control and that is why we are going to rethink this security strategy,” he commented.
They will promote reform of the Criminal Procedure Code
As part of the actions to combat violence, the minister announced that he will present this week an initiative to reform the Criminal Procedure Code, with the purpose of preventing people arrested for carrying firearms without a license from obtaining alternative measures.
Villeda indicated that the proposal responds, among other factors, to the fact that the PNC has captured more than a thousand people for illegally carrying a firearm.
“This is a necessary condition for the fight that we are carrying out. It is somehow inadmissible for a person to carry a firearm without the respective license,” said the official.
Villeda called on judges to assess the seriousness of the cases of those people who are detained with an illegal weapon.
“A call to my fellow judges to take seriously the seriousness of this conduct. A person who carries a firearm without a license to carry it cannot be doing absolutely anything good. Nor can we consider that it is defensive conduct,” he said.