THIRTY-FOUR PEOPLE BEING PROSECUTED FOR PASSPORT FORGERY
Sixteen remanded in custody

Guatemala, February 10, 2014. High-Risk Court B has ordered the prosecution of thirty-four individuals in the passport forgery case involving employees of the General Directorate of Migration (DGM), the National Registry of Persons (RENAP) and intermediary agents.

Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez ordered the prosecution of six individuals accused of forming part of a criminal structure involved in helping citizens of diverse nationalities obtain forged Guatemalan passports in order to enter, depart and move within Guatemala.  With this latest decision, the number of people being prosecuted rises to 34.

At the initial appearance held today, Judge Gálvez ordered that Brenda Cotto Ramos, a DGM official at the La Aurora International Airport, be remanded in custody on charges of illegal entry of persons and criminal association.

The individuals named below were charged with falsification of documents and falsification of facts as well as being granted the alternative measures of a ne exeat order, house arrest and ordered to sign an attendance record every fifteen days.

• Carlos Dagoberto González, former employee of National Registry of Persons (RENAP).
• Pablo Alfonso Ralón Molina, former employee of RENAP.
• Daniela Santana Díaz, former employee of RENAP.
• Albacé Velásquez Díaz, former employee of RENAP.
• Julio Alberto Donis, former employee of RENAP.

Background
On February 4, High-Risk Court B ordered the prosecution of 25 individuals alleged to form part of a criminal structure, and ordered that 12 of them be remanded in custody. In this same case, José Alberto de León Gramajo (Head of the passport delegation of the DGM Passport Issuing Authorities) and José Antonio Samayoa Cano (former representative of the Corporación Inmobiliaria La Luz S.A.), and Mirna María de Los Ángeles Rivas Gramajo (former DGM delegate) are already being prosecuted and are currently remanded in custody—they were arrested in August 2013.