Arrest of Marixa Lemus Pérez after escaping from prison.
Marixa Lemus Pérez is known as the “El Chapo” of Guatemala. The former candidate in local elections is serving a 94-year sentence and has already escaped from prison twice.
Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, better known for El Chapo, is a Mexican drug trafficker who led the Sinaloa Cartel until he was finally arrested and sentenced to life in prison in 2019. He is considered by authorities as one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world.
In Guatemala, the drug lord is actually a baroness. Marixa Lemus Perez, best known for “La Patrona”, owns the country’s criminal empire, controlling drug trafficking. But even before that, Marixa was even a candidate for major of a small Guatemalan town.
In 2011, her sister Mayra ran in Moyuta’s local elections, but was murdered by a group of men armed with shotguns and AK-47s. The killing became known as the “Los Cuernos massacre”. Marixa replaces her sister in the rest of the electoral race, eventually losing to Carlos Marroquin.
Four years later, Marixa was ordered to fulfill a 94 year sentence for violent crimes committed. Desperate, “La Patrona” she tried to break out of prison just a year after she was incarceratedto no avail. The following year, in 2016, he tried again and, this time, he really succeeded. Disguised as a prison guard, Marixa managed to get out of prison and flee to El Salvador, where two weeks later she would be captured.
So after Digna, my obsession grew, and I started looking into lots of other women. In Guatemala, good fortune and some local help got me in front of Marixa Lemus Perez in a high security prison, and she told me her story too, between both tears and laughter. pic.twitter.com/jE1LnHF6lN
— Deborah Bonello (@mexicoreporter) October 26, 2021
After serving four of the 94 years of her sentence in the Santa Teresa women’s prison, Marixa tells VICE who is still trying to win his freedom. “I want to reopen my case”, he vented.
Central America is the gateway for cocaine to Latin America. The constant movement of legal goods across borders provides the necessary coverage for drug trafficking.
Alliances between local authorities and drug traffickers are common. Authorities sometimes charge criminal groups to move across the border unchecked, but in other cases the line between the two groups can blur or fade completely.
“I know that [Marroquín] you’re scared of me because I’m a woman who took the reins and I will avenge myself and all the family he took from me”, said Marixa to VICE.
Marroquin himself has been the victim of several attempted murdersor, at least, alleged attempts. Marixa says she never tried to kill him and that the attacks were staged by the politician himself.
