Guatemalan deputies approved a legislative initiative this week declaring the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs to be terrorist organisations. The bill had been mired in the legislative assembly for years, but its passage was expedited by the US government’s terrorist designation of Barrio 18 last month and a mass jailbreak from a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Guatemala City, which prompted President Bernardo Arévalo to fire his entire ministerial security team. Arévalo appointed a new interior minister and two deputy security ministers this week, prioritising the recapture of the mara fugitives.End of preview - This article contains approximately 628 words.
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