A man from the San Martin area of St. Matthews Village has been arrested and charged by the Belmopan police because he showed gang tattoos on his body, demonstrating his membership in a gang, which is against the law.

Jorge Alberto Guevara, 22, a Salvadoran laborer of St. Peter Street in the San Martin area, was charged and pleaded guilty to having the tattoos, but pleaded not guilty for membership in the gang. In the Belmopan Magistrate’s Court on Monday, June 24, he was remanded to the Belize Central Prison until August 21, when he is to be returned to court.

Police said that about 11:30 a.m. on Friday, June 21, they were conducting mobile patrol in San Martin area when they stopped and conducted a routine search on Guevara, who was standing by the roadside on St. Peter Street. Police said that they saw that “XV 3” was tattooed on his left wrist.

When asked what the letters and numbers meant, Guevara told them that he is a member of the 18th Street Gang.

Police said that he was immediately arrested and taken to the Belmopan Police Station, where he was charged with the crime of “displaying support to a criminal gang in public, and professing to belong to a criminal gang.”