GUATEMALA CITY — Several dozen Guatemalan prison guards were being held hostage by inmates in three prisons Saturday following apparently coordinated disturbances, authorities said.
Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda said he was willing to talk with the inmates but would not accede to their demands as he sought the release of the 46 guards.
Earlier Saturday, Villeda’s agency said in a statement that the inmate uprising was in response to prison administrators’ decision to strip privileges from imprisoned gang leaders.
“In Guatemala we don’t negotiate with terrorists nor with organized crime,” the statement said. “We also don’t allow groups that have sown fear to impose their conditions.”
National Police officers were deployed around the affected prisons. There were no reports of injuries or deaths.
In videos circulated on social media, some prisoners demanded transfer.
In October, President Bernardo Arévalo accepted the resignations of three top security officials, including Villeda’s predecessor, after authorities acknowledged that 20 gang members escaped over a period of days.
“The link between the prison system and the criminality outside has to be cut,” Arévalo said in an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday. “That’s why all this effort to regain control of the prison system is very important.”
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