In a significant cross-border security operation, Belizean authorities have transferred a high-profile MS-13 gang member to Guatemalan officials for subsequent expulsion to his native El Salvador. The operation, conducted on Friday, targeted 45-year-old Marvin Edgardo Sandoval, alias ‘Cirillo,’ a Salvadoran national identified as a member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha criminal organization.
Sandoval had been formally classified as a prohibited immigrant in Belize and was subject to an official ‘Order to Leave’ the country. The deportation procedure was executed through a coordinated effort between specialized G13 police units based in San Ignacio and Belize’s immigration department officials.
The handover occurred at the Melchor de Mencos border crossing in Guatemala’s Petén department, where Belizean officials transferred custody to Guatemalan customs authorities. Guatemalan migration services subsequently arranged Sandoval’s expulsion to El Salvador, his country of origin.
This incident marks the second documented deportation of a Salvadoran MS-13 operative from Belize in recent months. In November, Belizean border authorities facilitated the arrest of another gang member, Julio Cesar, at the nation’s western frontier in a similar security operation.
MS-13, designated as a ‘transnational criminal organization’ by the United States government, originated among Salvadoran immigrant communities in Los Angeles during the 1980s. The gang has since evolved into one of the most formidable criminal networks in the Western Hemisphere, engaging in drug trafficking, human smuggling, and extreme violence across Central America and beyond.