Posted on 10/29/2005 4:05:14 PM PDT by ncountylee
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Groups of presumed gang members launched two separate attacks against prison officials Saturday, killing four men and wounding a third. The assailants escaped.
"We are in high alert," said Sandra Sayas, director-general of Guatemala's prison system. "I've called all of the prison chiefs to an urgent meeting."
In the first attack, the assailants apparently used assault weapons to open fire on guards as they were leaving work at the end of their shift in the "Pavoncito" prison, 10 kilometers (six miles) southeast of the capital, Guatemala City, Sayas said.
One of the guards died immediately, while another died on arrival at a hospital. The third was in surgery Saturday, Sayas said.
The second shooting attack took place 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Guatemala City in the province of Chimaltenango, where local prison director Brandon Caal and his body guard Rigoberto Otzoy were both killed.
The attacks came just a day after members of the dangerous Mara Salvatrucha gang rioted at El Boqueron prison 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Guatemala City, threatening to decapitate two guards until officials ceded to their demand to allow televisions in cells, permit conjugal visits and transfer a group of prisoners who are not gang members to another facility.
It also came just a week after 19 dangerous inmates escaped from a maximum-security prison in Escuintla, in southern Guatemala.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.tbo.com ...
OTM's for catch and release program?
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