GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 19 (Reuters) – The death toll from coordinated gang attacks in Guatemala has risen to nine police officers, an official confirmed on Monday, following a weekend of violence that began with prison riots.
The conflict started on Saturday when inmates from the Barrio 18 gang took 46 guards hostage at three prisons, demanding greater privileges.
The violence escalated on Sunday after security forces regained control of a prison holding the gang’s leader, Aldo “El Lobo” Duppie. In apparent retaliation, gang members launched a series of attacks on police in and around Guatemala City.
Initially, seven officers and one gang member were killed in the Sunday attacks, with more than a dozen officers wounded. National police spokesman Jorge Aguilar told Reuters that an eighth officer died Sunday night and a ninth, Frallan Medrano, died early Monday from injuries sustained in an ambush.
In response, President Bernardo Arevalo declared a 30-day “state of siege,” which expands the power of security forces and may temporarily limit some civil liberties.
“The attack suffered by the officers was not only against them… but against the entire country,” Arevalo said during a wake for the fallen officers.
The president argued the violence was orchestrated by “political-criminal mafias” attempting to spread terror ahead of key judicial appointments.
El Lobo, the gang leader, is serving sentences totaling approximately 2,000 years and is married to the niece of Sandra Torres, Arevalo’s main rival in the 2023 presidential election.
While streets in Guatemala City were mostly calm on Monday, police and military forces were patrolling heavily. Classes across the country were canceled as a precaution.
Last October, Guatemala’s Congress officially classified the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs as terrorist organizations.
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Editing by Nia Williams)
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