In June 2024, Guatemala’s Interior Ministry filed a legal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office against 102 prison guards it accused of corruption. The guards had been manning a notorious gang prison in the Escuintla department, known colloquially as “El Infiernito,” or “Little Hell.” There, days before the accusations surfaced, authorities discovered all manner of contraband – including weapons, alcohol, live animals (among them crocodiles, raccoons, and an eagle), air conditioning units, slot machines, and over $23,000 in cash. The eclectic haul came during a raid aimed at restoring control of what is ostensibly a maximum security prison.
The raid was part of a broader crackdown on gang extortion, led by the Interior Ministry, that has become one of President Bernardo Arévalo’s flagship policies. The success of this campaign rests, in part, on whether the government can reduce corruption in prisons like El Infiernito, where decades of neglect have spawned lawless environments in which criminal groups can operate with impunity, or even with the assistance of prison guards. This was clear from the Interior Ministry’s legal complaint, which accused the 102 guards of breaching duty and abusing their authority for failing to prevent imprisoned gang members from smuggling in their illicit wares.
This is a case study taken from an in-depth InSight Crime investigation into Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo’s stumbling anti-corruption agenda. Download the full reportor explore additional case studies here.
But the Interior Ministry, like other executive bodies, is bound by the constraints of its mandate. In this specific case, the ministry could not fire or suspend the El Infiernito guards unless the Attorney General’s Office decided to investigate and prosecute them in the courts, a senior security official who requested anonymity told InSight Crime. Prosecutors are yet to mount a robust investigation into the case, and they may have little incentive to do so. The Attorney General’s Office – heavily linked to corruption networks – has been at loggerheads with Arévalo since before he took power, with prosecutors showing a much keener interest in pursuing dubious criminal cases linked to Arévalo than corruption denounced by the current administration.
“We file the complaint, but the Attorney General’s Office is responsible for leading the investigation,” the official told InSight Crime.
This dilemma goes beyond the Interior Ministry. Across the board, the Arévalo administration’s attempts to purge state institutions of compromised staff have faltered, largely because the executive branch does not have a mandate to investigate or prosecute people it identifies as corrupt. That is the sole responsibility of the Attorney General’s Office, which, as of mid-January, had enacted formal charges in response to just two of more than 200 corruption complaints filed by Arévalo’s cabinet.
This dependency has presented a farcical predicament for the government, with several ministers obliged to continue employing workers suspected of corruption. In the Interior Ministry’s case, for instance, all the accused prison guards were still stationed at El Infiernito as of mid-June, according to the same senior security official and Prensa Libre. Not only that, they were also taking part – somewhat ironically – in remodeling the facility to boost the prison’s security.
But even if the ministry could have unilaterally dismissed the guards, there would have been no simple route to replacing them. Chronic underinvestment in infrastructure has helped corruption spread throughout the country’s prisons, so simply transferring guards between detention centers may do little to prevent collusion with criminals behind bars. Instead, prison authorities decided to recruit and train a new generation of guards to take over jails like El Infiernito, which re-opened in November under a new name: Renovación 1 (Renovation 1). In December, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry told InSight Crime that 106 of 120 guards assigned to the renovated prison came from a crop of recruits graduated in March 2024. It is not yet clear whether the inexperienced graduates will successfully stamp their authority on what is possibly Guatemala’s most lawless prison.
The same spokesperson said that none of the guards who previously worked at the prison had been reinstated, but declined to say where they were working. All the accused guards were, however, still employed by the Interior Ministry.
Sources consulted for this report also flagged connections between senior prison officials and establishment politicians. For instance, the official who filed the complaint against the 102 guards – prisons director Sergio Vela – previously served as a government advisor under former interior minister, Mauricio López Bonilla. Bonilla resigned in 2015 after becoming embroiled in a corruption scandal and was later found guilty of embezzling police funds. Vela also served as head of the Interior Ministry’s private security branch (Dirección General de Servicios de Seguridad Privada – DIGESSP) under Enrique Degenhart, who as interior minister used police powers to undermine the work of an internationally backed anti-corruption commission that was kicked out of Guatemala in 2019. The ministry’s team of advisors also includes Vinicio Ramírez, who served as sub-director of a state-run Caribbean shipping port – vulnerable to corruption and drug trafficking – and as an advisor to the Interior Ministry during the Giammattei administration.
Speaking to InSight Crime, some analysts questioned whether security officials with ties to old-guard politics represent the best fit for Arévalo’s goal of rooting out entrenched corruption within the Interior Ministry, long targeted by criminal groups seeking to undermine law enforcement efforts.
For his part, Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez denied any personal or institutional links to López Bonilla. He added that experienced staff – himself included – inevitably have ties to previous administrations.
