The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) accused 12 people, including military, teachers and community leaders, to transgender cocaine and allow aircraft landing with the illicit in Guatemala. Those allegedly worked for the Jalisco Nueva Generación poster.
The MP prosecutor, during the beginning of the trial, said that the jets that landed in Guatemala in 2021 were bought in Venezuela and subsequently modified them to move cocaine inside. The fate of five of the aircraft was Guatemala in that year, he explained.
The coordination of the air transfer via air began with a call by WhatsApp, in which they warned the members of the criminal band that operated in Guatemala, of the landing of an aircraft with cocaine, he said.
The calls to the municipalities where they could land began and the link were teachers and community leaders who alert the settlers to place obstacles in the dirt roads and thus prevent the passage of members of the Army and National Civil Police, says the Prosecutor’s Office of Narcoactivity Crimes of the MP.
The investigations show that each villager received between Q500 and Q1 thousand for stopping the road operation, while drug traffickers unloaded the plane and moved the drug in Picops.
“It was even evidenced that there were several teachers who were collaborating with these structures and their role was to summon people to block the spaces. We knew that, when there were signs of different blockages in communities it was to guarantee the reception of the aircraft-with cocaine-”, argued the MP.
He added that the coordinators of the criminal structure sought people who had influence in the communities, including teachers and members of the Community Urban and Rural Development Councils (COCODES) to take Guatemala’s drug to Mexico.
Military involved
The criminal gang established links in the security forces to be able to prevent drug cargoes being seized, investigations claim.
The MP commented that Carlos Enrique Durán Cáceres, major aviation of the Guatemala army, had access to the radars of the Guatemalan Air Force and together with the captain of the army Ángel Eliberto Vargas Urizar and Lieutenant Walter Vinicio Contreras Munguía, allegedly gave false indications of where the narcoaeronave would land or warned the members of the structure That the drug was confiscated.
“This structure works for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), they received the drug mainly in Petén, where there were clandestine clues, ”details the Prosecutor’s Office.
He commented that the three military and the members of the structure lent themselves to delay the activities of the security forces.
“They moved the information late, diverting the teams to places where the reception had been made -of drugs -” emphasized the MP.
In addition, he stressed that Durán Cáceres, older aviation, had an important position in the Air Force, was one of the people in charge of the sighting, reception or coordination of the radars.
“This person knowing such sensitive information on the positions of the aircraft that were entering Guatemala, lent itself through an economic benefit to delay the activities of the security forces,” said the research entity.
Advisor and farm
The Prosecutor’s Office said that the captain of the army Ángel Eliberto Vargas Urizar and Lieutenant Walter Vinicio Contreras Munguía, were in charge of mobilizing land equipment in the southern and north area of the country, to intercept the drug, but these took advantage of their positions to collaborate with the criminal structure.
Brenda Beatriz Barillas Barrios worked as an advisor to the deputy elected for the good party, Gustavo Cruz and collaborated with the criminal gang dedicated to drug transfer with the military, teachers and community leaders, details the MP.
Barillas Barrios had a farm with an airstrip in Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla. “This farm was legal, but we managed to show that it was rented for illegal purposes,” the research entity argued.
The Prosecutor’s Office commented that Barillas Barrios coordinated the landing of an aircraft that had a robbery report in El Salvador and landed on its farm.
The trial against those accused of the crimes of criminal associations, conspiracy for trade, revelation of secrets and conspiracy for the murder will continue in the eleventh court of criminal sentence on March 10.