Guatemala's government announced Tuesday that the United States would send an FBI team to help capture gang leaders whose jailbreak has triggered a security crisis in the Central American country.

Local authorities last month announced that 20 members of the Barrio 18 gang had broken out of the Fraijanes II prison near Guatemala City, but did not specify when the escape happened.

Only four of the fugitives have been recaptured so far.

Guatemala has now followed Washington's lead by classifying Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang with a reputation for violence and extortion, as a "terrorist" organization.

In September, the U.S. government blacklisted Barrio 18 as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The U.S. Embassy criticized the escape as "utterly unacceptable" and c

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