Guatemala declares state of emergency to address gang violence

By YAN ZHUANG

The Guatemalan government declared a state of emergency Sunday to crack down on gang violence, in response to a surge of unrest in recent days that has included uprisings at prisons and the killing of eight police officers.

The state of emergency will last for 30 days and will empower the country’s national police and army to act against gangs and organized crime, President Bernardo Arévalo said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.

It will not impact the lives of most Guatemalans, he said, adding that schools were suspended Monday as a preventive measure.

Inmates took dozens of prison guards hostage at three prisons across the country Saturday. The Ministry of the Interior said the uprisings were coordinated and a response to authorities withdrawing privileges from the leaders of criminal organizations. On Sunday, police regained control of the three prisons, and the guards were freed, Arévalo said.

Eight police officers were killed Sunday, the national police said. Authorities have blamed the killings on gangs, and Arévalo said the attacks were in retaliation for police regaining control of the prisons.

Arévalo has said he plans to work with the FBI and other U.S. agencies to combat drug gangs, which he says run the nation’s prisons and have unleashed a wave of violence on the Central American nation. But Arévalo, who was elected as a moderate in 2023, has struggled to deliver on his promise to end corruption and rid the nation of drug cartels. His surprise victory spurred a wave of protests that nearly prevented him from taking office.

And since he became president, the conservative establishment has fought most of his reforms. The United States imposed a travel ban on his predecessor, Alejandro Giammattei, in 2024, citing accusations that the former president had taken bribes.

Late last year, Arévalo called for an overhaul of the country’s prison system, where gangs are believed to operate unchecked amid rampant bribery and corruption. He said at the time that the United States would provide support for the country’s fight against organized crime.

“They rioted in the prisons and took hostages with the intention of making the state accept their demands, which for decades were granted,” he said during the news conference, adding that the subsequent attacks were “an attempt to terrorize security forces and the population so that the government relents in its head-on fight against the gangs.”

Police blamed some of the attacks against police officers on the Barrio 18 gang, which has long been linked to organized crime and violence around Central America and which the Trump administration designated as a foreign terrorist organization in late September.