InSight Crime's March 7 article, "Aging Guatemala Drug Lord Freed by US After Debate Over Mental State," incorrectly reported that Waldemar Lorenzana, a Guatemalan citizen who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges following his extradition to the United States in 2014, had been released from US federal prison. We have removed this article from our website and removed all references to it in social media.
Our article was based on information originally reported by Guatemalan news outlet Soy502, which discovered that the inmate tracking website of the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) indicated that Lorenzana was "released on" November 20, 2015.
InSight Crime attempted to contact Lorenzana's attorney, Joaquin Perez, for comment, but Perez was not immediately available. After the publication of InSight Crime's article, we were able to contact Perez, who informed us that the information on the BOP website was incorrect. In fact, Lorenzana remains in federal custody at a prison in Virginia.
Part of our coverage of organized crime involves monitoring the local media. We attempt to verify all claims made in these stories, but sometimes fall short. We regret the error.