The Ministry of the Interior (Mingob) ensures that homicides have decreased since requisitions in prisons are carried out, so they consider that the acts of violence are linked to the rivalry between gangs.
According to Francisco Jiménez, Minister of the Interior, the requisitions in prisons have proven effective to significantly reduce homicides, confirming that much of violence is the result of struggles between gangs and their criminal activities. The authorities did not provide comparative figures.
He added that this strategy will continue to be implemented as a control mechanism, while more effective alternatives are developed to get rid of detention centers.
The official said that, despite criticism for recidivism in the discovery of prohibited objects weeks after each requirement, the authorities argue that this is precisely the objective: identify the vulnerabilities of the system that allow the reintroduction of these elements during visits or other means.
“The official position is clear: there will be no tiredness in the application of this methodology,” Jiménez said.
The minister explained that, in parallel to the requisitions, it works on two complementary fronts to strengthen penitentiary security.
On the one hand, infrastructure renewal has begun in the Petén Penitentiary Center, with plans to extend these improvements to other prisons in the country.
He indicated that this renewal seeks to optimize the physical conditions that currently facilitate smuggling and illegal activities within the enclosures.
On the other hand, he commented that it is invested in technology that will implement more sophisticated and effective controls. He explained that these technological advances will complement the manual work of the requisitions, creating a more robust surveillance system and less vulnerable to the infiltration of prohibited objects.
The comprehensive strategy combines immediate actions, such as requisitions, with structural solutions in the medium term, such as infrastructure renewal and the implementation of new technologies. The objective is to attack in a sustained way the criminal networks that operate from the prisons and that are responsible for much of the violence in the streets, said the official.