Overview
- Coordinated disturbances in three prisons led to 46 custodial staff taken hostage, with officials later announcing all hostages were recovered as the facilities were retaken.
- Security forces regained control of the Renovación I maximum‑security prison and freed nine hostages in an operation carried out without reported casualties.
- Officials report between seven and eight police officers were killed in apparent gang reprisals, with additional officers wounded and several suspects detained.
- The government blames Barrio 18 for organizing the uprisings, and police say alleged leader Aldo Dupie Ochoa, known as ‘El Lobo’, was neutralized.
- President Bernardo Arévalo deployed the Army, reinforced penitentiary security, suspended classes nationwide, and decreed a measure that requires congressional ratification.