Guatemalan ex-officials sought over prison deaths

UATEMALA CITY, (Reuters) – Guatemala issued arrest  warrants for 16 people yesterday, including former senior  government officials and a presidential candidate, over the  2006 storming of a prison that left seven inmates dead.

Five ex police officers charged with extrajudicial killings  were arrested, but the other 11 people wanted were not caught.

The fugitives include a former prison director who ran for  president in 2007, as well as the interior minister and the  attorney general at the time of the incident.

Seven prisoners were killed when security forces stormed  the El Pavon jail south of Guatemala City in September 2006 to  regain control of the facility from street gangs who had been  running extortion rackets from behind bars for years.

Criminal leaders held in Guatemalan prisons are believed to  control their syndicates from their cells.