1. I assume that they did not flee the country because they knew that it would be futile.
a. At the airport, they knew that some employees would be supporters of the insurrection. So they would be arrested (and probably beaten). If they did make it onto a plane, some passengers would turn them in.
b. Same situation at the Canadian and Mexican borders.
c. Besides what country would accept them? They would be extradited immediately.
2. They are going to prison, where they will be beaten, raped, and possibly murdered. Some Americans are delighted at such a prospect.
Listen, I actually fled a charge and negotiated from outside the country to reduce an A1 drug sale to an A2 felony (down from 8 years first offense to 3 years) before I came back to the United States.
It's very easy to flee south of the United States. You have to rely on Church services to food and shelter (because it's too expensive to live out of pocket without a job) until you learn some decent spanish and can do some manual labor.
If I had wanted I could have stayed there forever doing labor and maybe even advanced slightly in the construction field, but I wanted to come home and waited until the prosecutor agreed to an A2 charge.
Basically I negotiated my own plea bargain from outside the US.
However, in the case of these officers, I would flee south, never come back, or make any contact with anyone from the US ever again (self imposed isolation from the US)...because that would be my only chance of living a decent life.
Again, the matter of their guilt is irrelevant from this discussion. The political circumstances of such an act would cause even an innocent to flee, and likewise, a guilty person to also flee.
And this might surprise you, but no one gives a **** who you are down there so long as you're a peaceful/nice person while you're there. Yeah, you do have to bribe some officers at a few checkpoints, but only once.
Some of the locals will ask you why you fled, you just be honest and show them the warrant (that's your best hope), because they want to make sure you're not a rapo/pedo.
They saw my cocaine allegations and let me be.