Gang members held more than 40 guards hostage in several Guatemalan prisons on Saturday, January 17, during a riot protesting the transfer of their leaders to a maximum-security prison, authorities reported.
The gang members allegedly attempted to pressure authorities into releasing or transferring the gang leaders.
The Barrio 18 and its rival Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs, considered “terrorist” by the United States and Guatemala, are accused in the country of contract killings, extortion, and drug trafficking.
In mid-2025, authorities transferred the main gang leaders to a maximum-security prison where they remain in isolation, which has since sparked gang riots.
So far, “there are no injuries or deaths,” Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda stated at a press conference, ruling out negotiations for the hostages’ release.
“There will be no negotiations with the terrorists. The terrorists should not dictate the State’s agenda regarding prisons,” he said.
The government will not “restore their privileges” or “transfer them to the prisons they want” if they do not release the hostages, he added.
The director of the prison system, Jorge Guillermo López, reported that nine guards are being held at the Renovación I maximum-security prison, where gang leaders are being held, about 75 kilometers south of Guatemala City.
In addition, there are 28 other hostages, all of them guards, at the Fraijanes prison, and another nine, one of them a psychologist, at the Preventivo prison, located east and on the outskirts of the Guatemalan capital, respectively.
“They’re upset because certain privileges have been taken away,” but “we can’t allow inmates to do whatever they want in prisons,” Villeda stated.
During last year’s riots in various prisons, gang members held guards hostage, one of whom was shot and killed.
In October, Guatemalan authorities reported that 20 leaders of the Barrio 18 gang escaped from prison, leading to the removal of the top security officials and a crisis in the country.
