The ambush in which they died two alleged members of the neighborhood 18 on July 18 in San Miguel Dueñas, Sacatepéquez, is, for the authorities, the most recent episode of a criminal dispute that is developing over the control of drug dealing and extortion in the corridor that connects Sacatepéquez with Chimaltenango.
Investigations by the National Civil Police (PNC) maintain that behind the attack there is a struggle between the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and an alliance made up of Barrio 18 and Los Caradura, a criminal group that, according to investigations, broke its relationship with the MS in 2024 and began to operate together with members of the rival gang to maintain control of different territories.
According to intelligence documents from the National Division Against Criminal Development (Dipanda) of the PNC, to which he had access Free pressboth organizations maintain defined structures, with a presence in strategic municipalities of Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango, and their main leaders continue to exert influence from prison.
An alliance that changed the criminal map
According to PNC investigations, the conflict did not begin in Sacatepéquez.
The investigations indicate that The Caraduras and the M.S. For several years they maintained an alliance to control drug dealing, extortion and money laundering through nightclubs in zones 9, 10 and 14 of the capital and nearby municipalities.
However, that relationship was broken after a series of disputes that the authorities attribute to Carlos Roberto Ortiz Romero, alias “Gorgojo”, identified as one of the leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and who, according to the police investigation, responds to the orders of Jorge Yahir de León Hernández, alias “El Diabólico”. De León, one of the leaders of the MS, is serving a 168-year prison sentence for various crimes.
The breakup led, according to the PNC, to a new criminal configuration. The Caradura began to operate together with members of Barrio 18 to maintain control of different territories, while the Mara Salvatrucha began an offensive to recover those spaces.
You might be interested in: Francisco Edgar Domínguez Higueros, He died in the armed attack in zone 10 and that he would be linked to the “Caradura”
The authorities maintain that this struggle, which began in El Gallito, zone 3 of the capital, spread to the nightclubs in zones 9, 10 and 14, later to zone 6 and then reached the municipalities of Sacatepéquez, where control of drug dealing and extortion is now disputed.
The Mara Salvatrucha in Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango
Intelligence documents identify the main MS structures in the area as the Locos Centrales Salvatrucha (LCS) and Teclas Locos Salvatrucha (TLS) cliques.
Dipanda’s document indicates that the Locos Centrales Salvatrucha clique It operates in San Andrés Itzapa, Colomba Costa Cuca, Parramos, El Tejar, Zaragoza, San Martín Jilotepeque and the capital of Chimaltenango.
While the Teclas Locos Salvatrucha maintains operations in Chimaltenango and coordinates actions with the LCS.
According to intelligence information and the hypothesis followed by the PNC, These two cliques would be related to the armed attack that occurred in San Miguel Dueñas.
You could also read: MP reveals the evidence located after the attack in San Miguel Dueñas, Sacatepéquez, where two alleged gang members died
The leader of the Locos Centrales Salvatrucha clique is Angel Gabriel Reyes Marroquínalias Whitesentenced in May 2021 to 123 years in prison for murder, attempted murder, illicit association and extortionate obstruction of traffic.
The other MS clique that operates in these two departments and that supports the LCS in its illegal operations is Teclas Locos Salvatrucha, led by Emeterio Suruy Tubacalias Sparkwho, according to the Police, assumed control of extortion and drug dealing in Quetzaltenango.
Suruy Tubac was captured in August 2021 as one of the main leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha in Chimaltenango.
Subsequently, in July 2023, he was sentenced to 95 years in uncommutable prison for the murder of three people, illicit association, intimidating exactions and extortionate obstruction of traffic.
Before that conviction, he also appeared in investigations for his escape from the Cuilapa Regional Hospital in 2016 and for the attack assembled at Roosevelt Hospital in 2017.
According to data from the Penitentiary System, Reyes and Suruy are serving sentences in the “Constitutional Reinstauración” Preventive Detention Center for Men, known as Pavoncito.
Barrio 18 and the support of Los Caradura
The most recent attack attributed to the MS left alleged members of the MS dead and injured. Raza Chapina clique (RCH) of Barrio 18which, according to Dipanda, operates in Santa Lucía Milpas Altas, Alotenango, Santiago Sacatepéquez, San Lucas Sacatepéquez and Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez. Also, in Parramos, El Tejar and the head of Chimaltenango.
One of the leaders of the Raza Chapina clique is Jarvin Leonel Itzol Cruzalias “Loco” or “Crazy”, who is serving his sentence in the new isolation pavilion of the Canada Rehabilitation Model Farm, in Escuintla.
In April 2013, Itzol was sentenced to 88 years in prison for extortion, plagiarism or kidnapping and aggravated robbery for a case that occurred in San Lucas Sacatepéquez.
Despite remaining in prison, intelligence documents indicate him as responsible for coordinating the operations of Barrio 18 in the municipalities of Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango.
The dispute in Sacatepéquez
The night of July 18, Cristián Alexander López Pérezalias Tinyand Héctor David Noriega Sotoj, from the Raza Chapina clique, died when the pick-up truck in which they were traveling was intercepted by armed men when leaving a residential complex in San Miguel Dueñas.
Alexandro José Galindo Arellano survived the attack and was transferred to the Pedro de Bethancourt National Hospital, in Antigua Guatemala.
According to the Public Ministry, 159 ballistic evidence and three cell phones were located at the scene.
A video shows how the alleged members of Barrio 18 were traveling in a pick-up truck when they were intercepted by two vehicles, from which several armed men got out and shot repeatedly before fleeing.
The PNC reported that its main hypothesis is that the attack is related to the dispute between the Mara Salvatrucha, Barrio 18 and Los Caradura for control of drug dealing and extortion in Sacatepéquez.