Barrio 18 and Mara Gang Members Identified on the Border With Guatemala

Information from the Central American country’s National Civil Police indicates that these groups collaborate with Mexican cartels in drug and migrant trafficking on the border with Mexico.

The Guatemalan National Civil Police (PNC) has identified 10 cells of the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs operating on the border with Mexico, where they work for drug cartels in the fight for territory and the distribution of drugs to the United States.

Both Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 were designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Donald Trump administration.  Furthermore, Barrio 18 is being blamed by President Bernardo Arévalo’s government for riots in several prisons and for the murder of 10 PNC officers last week.

According to information from the PNC, accessed by El Sol de México, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) cell known as Locos Salvatruchas, and the Barrio 18 cells Solo Raperos, Crazy Rich, Solo para Locos, Lo Carnales, Crazy Gangsters, Crazy Chapín, and Little Psycho Criminal, collaborate with the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in trafficking drugs and migrants to the United States.

According to Guatemalan authorities, these cells have taken on a subordinate role within the criminal structure of the major Mexican cartels in crimes such as drug dealing, migrant trafficking, and extortion.

According to Belteton Helver Saia, who served as head of the anti-narcotics analysis and information sub-directorate of the PNC (National Civil Police) during President Alejandro Giammattei’s administration, the Mara Salvatrucha has maintained alliances at various times with organizations such as Los Zetas and the Gulf, CJNG, and Sinaloa cartels within Guatemala and in Mexican border states like Chiapas.

“For decades, they wielded street power superior to that of the police through fear, but now they operate as a local drug distribution network, as well as a force in territorial disputes and the smuggling of illicit substances into the United States, both within and outside of Guatemala,” he explained in an interview with El Sol de México.

“For its part, Barrio 18, considered one of the largest gangs in the Western Hemisphere, comparable in many respects to its best-known rival, Mara Salvatrucha, has even ventured into poppy cultivation and the establishment and control of clandestine laboratories for the manufacture of methamphetamine, always supervised by Mexican cartels,” the former official added.

According to Saia, these gangs are copying the tactics of Mexican cartels, such as the use of homemade explosives to attack their rivals.

“Although Barrio 18 has cells operating from Central America to Canada, its presence in El Salvador has weakened as a result of the aggressive campaign launched by the government of Nayib Bukele since March 2022. In Guatemala, it is attempting to reorganize after the transfer of its main leaders to the country’s most secure prisons,” he said.

Last week, a series of riots were reported in Guatemalan prisons, which were attributed to the leader of Barrio 18, Aldo Dupie Ochoa Mejía, alias Lobo, who was allegedly demanding better conditions in his cell at the Renovación I prison, located in southern Guatemala.

Ten police officers were killed in the riots, and 45 prison system workers were held hostage for several hours.

“This government will not make deals with any terrorist group. I will not give in to their blackmail, and I will not return privileges in order for them to cease their actions,” said Marco Antonio Villeda, Guatemala’s Minister of the Interior, at a press conference on January 18.

The Guatemalan government declared a 30-day state of siege, first to regain control of the prisons, and then to capture the gang members.

According to information from the National Civil Police (PNC), the alliance between Mexican drug cartels and local gangs extends along the entire shared border and on both sides of the border.

Data from the National Migration Institute (INM) indicates that during 2024, the most recent year for which figures are available, a total of 46 gang members from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador were arrested while attempting to enter Mexican territory through the Chiapas border.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. government agency responsible for border security, recorded the capture of 19 gang members at its border with Mexico during the same year.  According to CBP, these gang members enter Mexico through the southern border as undocumented migrants and travel throughout the country without being identified. Along the way, they seek contacts and business opportunities with drug cartels. Some of them are also recruited by organized crime groups for migrant smuggling.

Source: El Sol de México