The Prosecutor’s Office against the Extortion Crime of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), announced that the gang called Los Waifens has expanded its criminal operations in San Pedro Ayampuc and San Juan Sacatepéquez, Guatemala.
“It has grown, because there was already a third movement of the gangs. It is a criminal structure that exists next to the gang of neighborhood 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, ”said Edgar Morales, the Prosecutor’s Office against MP extortion.
He added that the Waifens arise in 2005 and there was a small group operating in Carranza, San Juan Sacatepéquez, but during the last months they have identified that the gang has extended its operations to San Pedro Ayampuc, where they have moved former members of a criminal structure of El Salvador called “revolutionaries”.
“They have been brewing the collection of extortion and murders. We have information regarding their way of operating and who integrate it,” he argued.
Morales said the investigations have shown that, derived from the policies implemented by the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, a structure arose to which it was called revolutionaries and these criminals may be operating with the Waifens.
These criminals are attributed to the collection of extortion to the extra -urban bus pilots of short routes, ranging from San Pedro Ayampuc to the capital city.
In 2024 the drivers decided to stop working three times, to demonstrate their disagreement for little security in the municipality.
Subdivision in Mara Salvatrucha
The prosecutor said that in addition to the Waifens, there is a substructure within the Mara Salvatrucha called “The program of the”, which is responsible for distributing to the members of that gang in Guatemala.
“This program is dedicated to receiving gang members of Central American nationalities and can already distribute them within the structure according to the click, which they have belonged in their countries of origin,” he argued.
Morales acknowledged that this subgroup of the MS-13 previously did not demand extortion in the country.
“Currently they are already charging extortion. This is considered that the issue of extortion in Guatemala is a round business, ”he said.
Extortion from prisons
According to the investigations of the Prosecutor’s Office, the extortion calls continue to leave from the country’s prisons and are directed by the leaders of Las Maras.
Morales explained that the leaders of the 18th neighborhood are in two prisons, Fraijanes and preventive for men in zone 18.
The group called The Rueda del Barrio 18 It is mostly held in Fraijanes and the subgroup THE RUG OF 11operates in the eleven sector of the preventive center.
He pointed out that the Council of the nine, top leaders of the MS, is held in Pavoncito, and it is another penalty where extortion orders and calls are still registered.
In that same center, in November 2024, it was found as the inmates built luxury rates for the MS leaders, without authorization of the penitentiary system.
The prosecutor said that other groups that demand extortion in the prisons of Escuintla and Quetzaltenango are part of the 18th neighborhood and Mara Salvatrucha.
Mingob posture
The Ministry of the Interior (Mingob), said that the Waifens and the program of the already operated in the country and that is why operations have been carried out together with the MP to dismantle the structures.
He added that the investigations continue on the part of both institutions and during the last year there was a reduction of the victims who paid extortion.
He argued that there is an increase in complaints for extortion calls, due to the confidence that the population has in the police.
The PNC confirmed that in prisons there are “extortion tables”, from which the capture of victims is planned, the lists of telephone numbers are assigned to harass and the payments are received and concentrated. This business represented in the last 45 days Q1.7 million in payments.
Official data indicate that between January 1 and February 17 of this year three thousand 845 cases of extortion have been denounced, of which it was possible to avoid payment in three thousand 443, which represents 89.54% of the reports. The total amount that extortionists demanded that their victims was Q35.54 million.
However, the police argue that currently, and thanks to the complaints and mediation of security experts, 81% of extortion is not paid.
It has also been determined that 19% of the extortion paid are gang demands; The rest is of the so -called imitators, who are passed through gang members.