Sawt Falasteen - Ninth policeman dies in Guatemala gang riots, attacks

President Bernardo Arevalo declared a 30-day emergency on Sunday after riots in three prisons and a wave of police killings which rocked the gang-plagued Central American nation.

The state of emergency took immediate effect, despite requiring approval by the opposition-controlled Congress.

The unrest began when gang-affiliated inmates took 45 guards and a psychiatrist hostage on Saturday in three prisons to demand that gang leaders be transferred from a maximum-security prison to more lenient facilities.

A day later, police supported by the army stormed all three prisons, freeing all the hostages and restoring control.

In response to the crackdown the gangs then attacked police stations and patrols, killing eight officers and seriously wounding another who succumbed Monday to his injuries.

The latest victim, named as Frayan Medrano, was shot in a district south of Guatemala City while patrolling by motorbike with a colleague, who was among a dozen officers wounded.

One suspected gang member was killed, Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda said.

Arevalo, elected as a moderate in 2023, led a funeral service for the slain officers on Monday at the interior ministry in Guatemala City.

The coffins of the victims were cloaked in Guatemalan blue-and-white flags and were flanked by colleagues in uniform, standing to attention.

The president, dressed in a black suit, greeted officers' relatives, hugging some of them.

- 'The Wolf' -

The authorities blamed some of the attacks on the Barrio 18 gang, which together with the rival gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) is blamed for much of the drug trafficking and criminal violence that plague Central America.

After the first prison raid, the interior ministry published a video on X showing officers handcuffing and leading away Barrio 18's alleged leader in Guatemala, whom authorities identified as Aldo Dupie, alias "El Lobo" (The Wolf).

He had bloodstained clothing.

Washington has declared both Barrio 18 and MS-13 to be terrorist organizations.

Arevalo said the state of emergency would allow the police and army to act against organized crime.

It suspends the right of assembly and permits individuals to be arrested and interrogated without a court order.

Since mid-2025, gang members have staged several uprisings in Guatemalan prisons to demand their leaders be held in less restrictive conditions.

In October, the authorities reported that 20 leaders of the Barrio 18 gang had escaped from prison.

Only six have been recaptured, while another was shot and killed.

The government at the time asked for the help of the FBI to track down the remaining escapees.

Across Latin America, gang members continue to run criminal enterprises, from drug trafficking rings to extortion rackets, from behind bars -- often with the collusion of corrupt prison officials.

Guatemala is one of Latin America's poorest countries.

Its homicide rate rose from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 last year, more than double the world average, according to the Center for National Economic Research.

I.Matar--SF-PST