International
Guatemala transfers 225 prisoners to regain prison control in the south of the country

Guatemalan security forces transferred 225 people who were imprisoned in the prison called “El Infiernito”, located about 60 kilometers south of the capital of the Central American country, as part of the plans to convert it into a “high security” prison and thus regain control.
The Guatemalan Minister of the Interior (Interior), Francisco Jiménez, indicated that the eviction was carried out with the aim of “recovering and converting the prison into a high-security prison” and stressed that in the operation they found a pool of crocodiles.
According to the same source, the prison, which is known as “The Hell” but whose official name is Maximum Security Center Canada, will be remodeled soon.
More than 400 agents of the National Civil Police participated in the operation to transfer 225 inmates, mostly gang members, as confirmed by the authorities.
Jiménez explained in a message on his official channels that the transfer lasted four hours and that several illegal objects have initially been found in the place, including a “pool” of “crocodiles.”
The official said that the “main objectives” of the operatives were “the recovery” of the penitentiary center, which “had been constituted into a prison that had nothing to do with maximum security.” In addition, they also transfer inmates from the “Mara 18” gang to other prison centers to have better control over the criminal organization.
According to Jimenez, the findings inside the prison showed “that there was total freedom inside this prison.”
“We found a farm of farm animals, which were probably used by the same inmates to feed themselves. But the most serious thing is that we find in a crocodile pool, a very serious issue because it shows the lack of control of this prison,” he concluded.
The operatives arrive a week after the murder of 18-year-old Guatemalan singer and influencer Jorge Pop, a crime that dismayed the Central American country and that is initially attributed by the authorities to the “Mara 18” gang.
According to various studies, thousands of businesses in Guatemala suffer monthly extortion by gang members, mostly from the different prisons that are under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior.
That is why Jiménez indicated that they are looking for “mechanisms” so that prisoners cannot “charge phones” or have access to illegal objects.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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