On Thursday, March 20, it was recorded An armed attack in the Las Cruces canton, Amatitlán, against Luis Alberto Barrios Chacón38, who according to police investigators, was a leader of organized crime that operated in that municipality.
The first inquiries show that Barrios was the one who distributed retail drugs and had several businesses, including bars and discos. In addition, the database of the judicial agency details that Barrios was arrested in 2011 for the crime of bribery.
The researchers said that the death of the leader “leaves a vacuum in drug trafficking in that sector.”
They commented that three alleged gang members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) descended from a blue car with P-617FBG plates and fired against Chacón neighborhoods. After an operation, they captured José Daniel Chávez Sánchez, aka “Yoko”, 26, who had left prison on February 19, 2025.
They pointed out that the investigations show that there is an alliance between members of the MS-13 and Salvadoran gang members who arrived in Guatemala after the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, decreed the exception regime.
“The MS and the Salvadoran criminals want to seize the sale of drugs in the metropolitan area, and this has caused a series of deaths in Villa Nueva, Villa Canales and Amatitlán,” they said.
In addition, they reported that they investigate whether the death of the inmate Luis Alfredo Álvarez Rivera, in the Pavoncito prison on March 9, is related to the struggle of territories between the MS and drug traffickers.
The PNC indicated that Álvarez was a hitman of the structure of Los Carura, which maintains the greatest control of drug trafficking in the department of Guatemala.
“The Mara Salvatrucha and the Salvadorans want to leave the structures that have operated in the metropolitan area out of the drug business, including the Carabura,” they said.
Pavoncito prison and prisoners
Luis Alfredo Álvarez was only two days in the Pavoncito prison and was killed. In that same penalty, José Daniel Chávez Sánchez, aka “Yoko”, one of the gang members who shot at Chacón neighborhoods was held.
It is not the first time that Chavez leaves prison for the benefit granted by a judge. The National Civil Police captured him on May 1, 2017 for the crime of trade, traffic and illicit storage. After admitting the position charged by the Public Ministry, the judge granted him a conditional suspension of the penalty and regained his freedom on June 30, 2018. During those 14 months he was held at the El Boquerón detention center.
The second time that the PNC captured it was on August 9, 2019. For the crimes of illegal carrying of firearms and attack, it was sent to prison to the preventive for men in zone 18. Subsequently, it was transferred to the Fraijanes 2 prison and then to Pavoncito.
According to data from the Penitentiary System, on February 19, 2025 Chávez regained its freedom for redemption of labor penalty, established in articles 70 and 71 of the Law of the Penitentiary Regime.
The researchers said that Chavez was held in Pavoncito with the leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha, called the Council of the Nine, and presume that it was the direct link to coordinate the armed attack against Barrios Chacón.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office against the extortion of the MP, at the Pavoncito detention Center Extortions continue to be ordered and other crimes.
In that same penalty, on November 19, 2024, during a requisition, the construction of luxury apartments for the bosses of this gang.
The authorities of the Penitentiary System denounced on that occasion the director, deputy director and warden in charge of the center for allowing the construction of infrastructure illegally, without the permits of the SP.