Witness says MS-13 gang member threatened her life

Police have arrested a man for threatening a witness in a murder trial. Hilberto Ruiz has been charged with Attempted Suppression of Evidence following a complaint by a twenty-nine year old female resident of Belize City. According to the woman, she was outside the Supreme Court, waiting to testify in the trial of Alex Bautista, when she was approached by Ruiz who told her that if she went through with her testimony she and her children would be killed by the gang known as MS-13. The woman, who knows Ruiz and believes him to be a member of the widely feared Central American gang, immediately reported the incident to the police. Alex Bautista, a Guatemalan, is charged with the October 2006 murder of Gerson Hernandez on Victoria Street in Belize City. The Mara Salvatrucha is a particularly ruthless and violent criminal organisation which has spread through much of Central America but is only just beginning to show itself among immigrant communities in Belize.