The former mayor of El Rodeo, San Marcos, Crysthian Omar Escobar Ángelwas sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for drug trafficking. According to the United States Department of Justice, the former mayor was one of the leaders of a large-scale drug trafficking organization that operated in Central America and North America, through a structure that allowed tons of cocaine to be manufactured and transported from Colombia to that country.
The documents establish that the structure, based in El Rodeo, was identified in 2015 by federal agents, who determined that the network had reach in Central American countries to mobilize drugs, which were later distributed in United States territory.
According to the data presented in court, the organization had a sophisticated infrastructure for the manufacture and transportation of cocaine, which allowed it to operate sustainably in different countries.
Escobar Ángel, 48, was identified as responsible for part of these operations. At the time of being linked to the case, he served as mayor of El Rodeo, San Marcos.
Authorities also documented the use of threats of violence as part of the criminal operation. In one of the intercepted messages, Escobar Ángel wrote: “Let me talk to someone, I just need some details for tomorrow and we will pour poison on him… [D]leave me that one [insulto]…Let’s go [insulto] give him a beating…”
The case led to his indictment in 2019 in the Eastern District of Texas. He later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, with knowledge that it would be illegally imported into the United States. On April 7, 2026, a federal judge sentenced him to 327 months in prison.
Pretrial against Escobar and other officials
Escobar Ángel won the elections for mayor of El Rodeo, San Marcos, in 2019 with the CREO party. Three years later, the Public Ministry requested the withdrawal of immunity, along with three other officials, for their involvement in the transfer of narcotics.
The action occurred in 2022 when United States authorities presented an accusation in the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against Escobar Ángel; Esvin Fernando Marroquín Tupas, then mayor of Cuilapa, Santa Rosa; José Armando Ubico, who served as a deputy to the Congress of the Republic, and Freddy Salazar Flores, son-in-law of the leader of Los Huistas and who arrived in the Central American Parliament in 2019 as a substitute deputy.