During a search at the Jail Renovation 1considered maximum security, carried out on October 8, the authorities found air conditioners, industrial fans and installed on the ceiling. Furthermore, those deprived of liberty were not wearing orange uniforms given to them by the Penitentiary System (SP), but they did wear new tennis shoes.
Cash, women’s underwear, condoms and other objects were also seized.
Aldo Dupie Ochoa Mejía, alias The Wolf; Jorge Yahir de León Hernández, alias The Diabolical and leader of the MS; and Carlos Roberto León Barillasson of Juan José León Ardón, alias Juancho Leonleader of the drug trafficking clan known as Los Leones. The latter remained in a secluded area with air conditioning and a private bathroom.
The General Directorate of the Penitentiary System (SP) published a statement on October 9 about what happened.
“Regarding the clothing of those deprived of liberty at the Renovation 1 Maximum Security Center, it is reported that, on October 8, during a raid carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Civil Police, some inmates took advantage of the intervention to discredit the center’s authorities and not wear the regulatory uniform. This situation gave rise to the beginning of the corresponding investigations, in order to determine responsibilities regarding the people who allowed said omission,” it reads. the document.
They also referred to Carlos Roberto León Barillas and indicated that they work according to specialized protocols, due to a case under investigation related to an attack against him.
The illicit
Regarding the objects or benefits granted to those deprived of liberty, the SP stated that all management is carried out within the legal and regulatory framework, “in observance of the institutions and with the purpose of preventing situations that may affect the security or the adequate development of the penitentiary administration.”
It was indicated that the general director of the SP, Ludin Astolfo Godínez, signed the corresponding letters to remove the objects not allowed in that prison.
“Any statement coming from insiders or third parties is subject to institutional verification and investigation processes, in accordance with established procedures,” the document states.
The inmates of Renovación 1
On November 10, 2024, the SP transferred 131 ringleaders and operators of criminal structures that commit crimes in 11 prisons in the country to Renovación 1—the maximum security prison. On that occasion, the Ministry of the Interior indicated that those deprived of liberty would not enjoy privileges.
Among the inmates were members of Barrio 18, the Mara Salvatrucha and people linked to crime and drug trafficking.
According to the authorities, the inmates had to wear orange uniforms and black shoes. However, during the recent search, the MP and the National Civil Police confirmed the opposite.
Few inmates were wearing the orange uniform, and the MP reported that they confiscated Q1,500 in cash and three cell phones.
The leaders of Barrio 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha wore new shoes, shorts and t-shirts. In the sector of the five leaders of Barrio 18, the authorities found coolers, microwaves, ceiling fans and beds.
“We already negotiated”
“We have authorization to have this here. If they are in here it was because they authorized it; we already paid for that,” said Aldo Dupie Ochoa Mejía, alias The Wolfleader of Barrio 18, during the search.
Jorge Yahir de León Hernández, alias The Diabolical and leader of the MS, explained: “We have already negotiated to be well; we have authorization.”
Juancho León’s son
Carlos Roberto León Barillas, son of Juan José León Ardón, alias Juancho Leonleader of the drug trafficking clan known as Los Leones, was transferred to Renovación 1 on April 10, 2024.
León Barillas is serving a 105-year sentence for the murder of three men in November 2013. He is also accused of having beheaded seven inmates during a riot that occurred on May 19, 2021 at the Cantel prison, Quetzaltenango. According to the investigations, he ran an illegal collection structure known as talacha.
During the search, the authorities confirmed that León Barillas was in the clinic of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif), installed in Renovación 1.
“That area seems to have been set up for León, in order to keep him away from the gang members of Barrio 18 and the MS. In that improvised cell the inmate had air conditioning, a mat and a private bathroom,” said an investigator.