'Criminals don't rule Guatemala!' - Pres Arevalo lays first stone for 200-inmate maximum-security prison in Izabal

"Guatemalan Army engineers began construction of a maximum-security prison in Morales, Izabal, on land previously seized from organised crime. The prison, named El Triunfo, will have a capacity for up to 2,000 high-risk inmates. Footage filmed on Friday shows military personnel placing the first stone for part of the prison's perimeter wall during a ceremony led by President Bernardo Arevalo. "The start of this construction is a triumph, a triumph of justice over crime, a triumph of good over evil. A triumph of the rule of law over organised crime, a triumph of the people of Guatemala over their executioners," stated the president. "But it is also an opportunity to remind, whoever needs to hear it, that in Guatemala criminals do not rule, that in Guatemala drug traffickers do not rule, that in Guatemala terror does not rule," he continued. Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda said each cell will hold no more than two inmates and, unlike El Salvador's CECOT prison, will not be communal. He added that the authorities would act to prevent any interference in the prison's construction, and warned that anyone who obstructs the project would be arrested and brought before the courts. "No one can claim the authority to prevent a project like this from being carried out. No one has the legitimacy to oppose a State decision that, in some way, guarantees the security of all Guatemalans," he added. The prison is being built on land confiscated in a drug trafficking case and now held by the state. The project has been allocated about one billion quetzales ($130 million), and will be carried out by the Guatemalan Army with support from the Interior Ministry."

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