Two armed attacks that occurred this year against people who entered the El Gallito neighborhood, zone 3, evidence the danger that this sector represents, dominated by a criminal group dedicated to drug trafficking. Although the PNC claims to have control of the area, it recommends not entering it if the place is not known, in order to avoid incidents.
On March 27, a family from Sololá that followed the instructions of a mobile application in search of a clinic entered the El Gallito neighborhood and was shot dead. The incident occurred in the 13th and 3rd street. Avenue of that area, and as a consequence a man was injured.
On January 9, a woman who was driving her truck in zone 3 of the capital, accompanied by another elderly woman, also followed the indications of a location application and by mistake entered the El Gallito neighborhood. However, when he left the place, subjects shot him for not obeying the high that marked him.
The armed incident was recorded on Elena Avenue and 13 street, zone 3. Both women were treated for nervous breakdown, relief bodies reported.
Neighbors of the place have said that people who are not from the sector and enter to visit a relative must take precautions at certain points, such as lowering the glass of cars if they are polarized and obey if subjects mark the high, because they question where they are directed.
They also emphasize that, in the 14th street and avenue of the cemetery, the sculpture of a rooster was erected to have a notion of where said neighborhood begins. In that place the attack against one of the victims occurred, because it is high risk to enter this way, according to inhabitants of the sector.
Neighbors have pointed out that in some sectors they are victims of charges for having businesses such as grocery stores or food sales. However, others claim that these situations do not occur throughout the neighborhood and regret being stigmatization, because fast food companies and other parcels prefer not to enter for fear of being victims of an armed attack.
Caution
Asked a police command that preferred to omit his name, he said they have control of the area and have reduced armed clashes by the territory dispute for the sale of drugs. However, he acknowledged that the Gallito is a red area for the armed events that were recorded years ago and for the incidents against people entering the place without knowing the risks, so he recommends being caution to those who do not know there.
He added that they constantly do police operations to identify criminal groups that cause such attacks, and acknowledged that they must work on strategies to eradicate drug distribution from that point.
The spokesman of the PNC, Edwin Monroy, said that the patrol carried out by the National Civil Police in that place is in charge of Police Station 11 and that, by order of the general director, David Custodio Boty, there are anti -ninarcotic personnel to reinforce the patrol inside the El Galito neighborhood.
“The work has to be together. It is also not ruled out that at some point special police forces join patrol, to the identification and registration of people, this as a measure of prevention and thereby avoid armed attacks, actions or facts against life that can be prevented,” he explained.
This year joint patrols with the Army were resumed, but Monroy said that the support of the military forces to carry out patrols inside that place has not been requested, although it does not rule out that at some point you can have military personnel to have a greater presence.
Collaboration
The most recent operation that security forces carried out in the El Gallito neighborhood was on February 14, 2024, as part of the investigation to locate five men who were last seen in a nightclub on January 5 of that year.
As police investigators have announced on different occasions, the sale of drugs is under the control of the hard face, a structure that controls the distribution of narcotics in zones 3, 7, 10, 11 and 12.
According to the researchers, the band has recruited young people for their safety and that of the El Gallito neighborhood, because, due to their age, they do not remain in prison for more than a few months in case of being arrested.
On March 13, PNC authorities confirmed that Luis Alfredo Álvarez Rivera, 29, was located dead in the Pavoncito prison. According to the police institution, Álvarez was a hitman of the criminal structure “Los Carura” and several armed attacks in Villa Canales were attributed.
One of the problems to take total control of El Gallito neighborhood is that the structure operates with the support of the neighbors in exchange for benefits and alert them of police movements or hide the drug, as indicated by police officers.