3 Dead, 20 wounded in Guatemala prison clash

Guatemala City —  A least three people were killed and some 20 others wounded in a clash between inmates that began Tuesday morning in a Guatemalan prisonl.

“The information I have refers to three dead and 20 wounded,” Guatemala’s Vice President Jafeth Cabrera said in a statement to reporters.

Authorities of the Penitentiary System identified one of the dead inmates as Jose Luis Huberto Marquez Marroquin, 25, who has been serving time for crimes of extortion and the illegal bearing of arms since June 12, 2016.

The Municipal Fire Department said that some 10 prisoners were taken in police custody to hospitals in the capital, and according to the spokesman for the emergency team, Cecilio Chacaj, those inmates are in “serious condition.”

The incident took place at the Pavon Rehabilitation Farm, located in the Fraijanes municipality at some 25 kilometers (16 miles) southeast of the Guatemalan capital, and the reasons for the gun battle are as yet unknown.

The General Prison Services Administration (DGSP) has not provided any information about the causes of the shooting inside the prison, one of the largest of the 22 that are under its jurisdiction.

The institution would only say that elite members of the penitentiary guard together with members of the special forces of the National Civil Police (PNC) have gone to the prison to investigate the incident.

According to the Guatemalan press, the gun battle broke out between the 8th and 9th wards of the penitentiary and the wounded inmates, who have not been identified, were taken to both Roosevelt Hospital and San Juan de Dios Hospital.

Alias “El Pajon” and alias “El Simpson” were the leaders of the two criminal groups fighting each other, according to Guatemalan television channel Noti7, which aired a video that showed guards running to the sound of gunfire inside the prison.

Built in the 1970s to hold a thousand inmates, the Pavon prison now has 4,137 prisoners serving sentences for murder and drug trafficking, among other crimes.

One of the most recent violent incidents at Pavon occurred on June 18, 2016, when former army Capt. Byron Lima was killed while serving his 20th year behind bars for the murder of Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi.

Murdered along with Lima were 11 other inmates and an Argentine model, Joanna Birriel, who was visiting him in prison.