GUATEMALA CITY: A court in Guatemala has handed down a staggering 808-year prison sentence to Rigoberto Danilo Morales, an accused drug lord, for his involvement in the 2008 massacre of 15 Nicaraguans and one Dutch citizen. Morales, aged 37, was found guilty of participating in the killings, receiving 50 years for each victim and an additional eight years for criminal association.
Despite the lengthy sentence, Guatemalan law imposes a maximum prison term of 50 years for a single convict. Morales, who spent 13 years on the run, was apprehended in 2022, and his trial commenced in September of the same year.
Prosecutors detailed that the 2008 massacre occurred when a bus entering Guatemala from Nicaragua, suspected by alleged drug traffickers to be carrying drugs, was intercepted. Upon realizing it did not contain drugs, the traffickers shot the travelers and subsequently burned the bodies at an estate owned by another implicated individual, Marvin Montiel Marin.
This sentencing follows a 2016 conviction of Marvin Montiel Marin, another alleged drug kingpin involved in the same massacre, who also received a lengthy prison term. Additionally, eight other individuals, including Montiel and his wife Sara Cruz, were convicted and sentenced to varying prison terms in connection with the case.
