State of emergency declared in Guatemala after gangs seize prisons, kill eight cops
Guatemala City: Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo decreed a state of emergency on Sunday to combat gangs that killed eight police officers and seized control of three prisons over the weekend.
"I have decided to declare a state of emergency throughout the national territory for 30 days, starting today," Arevalo said in a national address.
Arevalo announced that security forces had retaken control of all three prisons where gang members had been holding dozens of hostages since Saturday.
The state of emergency suspends some provisions of the constitution as Guatemala battles the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs.
Both criminal groups are deemed "terrorist" organizations by the United States and Guatemala and accused of contract killings, extortion, and drug trafficking.
In a statement increasing an earlier toll by one, Guatemala's police said it "regrets the death of eight of its officers in the line of duty at the hands of criminals."
Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda earlier told a press conference he was deeply saddened by the "cowardly" killing of police officers "by these terrorists, in response to the actions the Guatemalan state is taking against them."
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Ten other police officers were wounded in the retaliatory attacks, and one suspected gang member was killed, he said.
At dawn on Sunday, police supported by the army entered the Renovacion I maximum-security prison in Escuintla, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) south of Guatemala City, using armored vehicles and tear gas.
After 15 minutes, they managed to regain control of the prison and freed guards being held hostage, an AFP photographer witnessed.
"It was an operation that unfolded without casualties on either side, and we managed to rescue the nine hostages that these terrorists had in their power," Villeda said.'
The interior ministry published a video on X showing officers handcuffing and leading away the alleged leader in Guatemala of the Barrio 18 gang, whom authorities identified as Aldo Dupie, alias "El Lobo" (The Wolf). He had bloodstained clothing.
Barrio 18 and its rival gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) are blamed for much of the drug trafficking and criminal violence that plague the Central American country.
AFP